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‘Who, if not us?’: Supporters of Russian political prisoner Yuri Dmitriev speak out

By:   []

Date: 2021-08

In the city of Petrozavodsk, Russian Gulag historian Yuri Dmitriev is on trial for a third time – and proceedings are coming to an end.

Over the past five years, Dmitriev has faced a series of charges, ranging from sexual abuse to illegal firearms possession. Now the Russian prosecution alleges that photos Dmitriev took of his young foster daughter constitute child pornography, though Dmitriev denies this, saying they were taken to document her improving health after the orphanage left her frail and sickly. Many believe the alleged crimes have been fabricated to prevent Dmitriev from continuing his historical research.

In 1997, Dmitriev located a mass gravesite, Sandarmokh, in his home region of Karelia, in northwestern Russia, where Stalinist executions were carried out during the 1930s. Since then, he has worked to compile lists of people who died in the massacres, which are now commemorated with a memorial complex. The Memorial Human Rights Association considers Dmitriev, who has spent much of the past five years in prison or pre-trial detention, a political prisoner.

But while the trials have been ongoing for years, Dmitriev’s colleagues and friends, and even people who do not know him personally, have travelled to support the historian in his confrontation with the Russian justice system.

openDemocracy spoke to several of Dmitriev’s supporters to find out what motivates them: why do completely different people, previously unknown to one another, keep returning to wait outside the closed doors of the courtroom, in order to see Dmitriev for only a few seconds?

‘This helps me fight my fears’

Ekaterina Boykova, animator, St Petersburg

The first time I came to Petrozavodsk was when Yuri Dmitriev was acquitted in the first trial in 2017.

I found out about the case on Facebook and I was ‘hooked’. Then I read an article about it by Shura Burtin, and talked to the guys from the Moscow Film School, and came to believe that Dmitriev was not, in fact, guilty of what he is accused. I did not take the first step right away – I’m used to working alone, I do not like big groups of people. But when I saw Dmitriev in person – this was after his release in the first trial – I listened to what he was saying, and how, then I understood that he was a sincere person and was telling the truth.

That’s a skill of mine – I instantly cotton on to insincerity and lies. At my psychodrama lessons, we were taught to feel people, their moods. With Dmitriev, everything is pure truth. So I decided to visit the court when the next trial began, in part because very few people attend the courts. Apparently, Dmitriev’s research topic, the Soviet repressions, is too painful.

But for me, the repression – executions, burial pits in the forest – is also a scary topic, my body literally rejects it. But I see how many good people support Dmitriev, and I try to hold on. It turns out that the terrible, dark side of a person can easily rise to the fore, it’s enough just to give in! I also have this fear. But next to the people I meet in the corridors of the Petrozavodsk court, I forget that I am a coward – I love them very much and, perhaps, have become stronger as a result.

‘I wanted to understand everything myself’

Natalya Demina, mathematician and sociologist, science journalist, Moscow

When I first heard about Dmitriev’s arrest in the media, I thought ‘this is disgusting, this is paedophilia’. Then I read that article by Shura Burtin and my attitude changed. I met Dmitriev’s elder daughter, Katya Klodt, at the Gulag Museum in Moscow, and became even more convinced that Dmitriev was a completely normal person and that everything the official media said about him was doubtful.

But I am a journalist and I have to listen to all sides, evaluate all sides. When I began to travel to Petrozavodsk to attend the court sessions, I talked to Dmitriev’s lawyer, and with his relatives, friends, with people who have known Dmitriev for many years. I asked everyone, trying to understand for myself who is right and who is wrong. I realised that Dmitriev had a difficult character and that the situation in the family was rather difficult, that Natasha, Dmitriev’s foster daughter, was also a difficult girl. But when all this formed a single picture, it became absolutely clear to me that he was completely innocent.
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[1] Url: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/who-if-not-us-supporters-of-russian-political-prisoner-yuri-dmitriev-speak-out/
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