Russia: Serious deterioration of health of Yuri Dmitriev while in detention and refusal of treatment

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a partnership of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), has received new information and requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in the Russian Federation.

New information:

The Observatory has been informed about the severe deterioration of health and the refusal of the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) to provide oncological treatment to arbitrarily detained Mr Yuri Dmitriev, a 69-year old historian and representative of the “Memorial” International Historical, Educational, Human Rights and Charitable Society in the northern republic of Karelia, Russia.

Yuri Dmitriev is currently serving a 15-years sentence in IK-18, a maximum-security prison in Mordovia, and suffers from several serious health issues. Since his arrest in 2016, he has not received proper medical attention and treatment. In particular, Yuri Dmitriev suffers from a prostate tumor, discovered during a medical checkup in June 2024 and causing him severe abdominal pain. Despite repeated requests to see an oncologist, no consultation was granted, and no biopsy or treatment were provided. While the Federal Penitentiary Service, responsible for the administration of detention facilities, initially claimed that there was no need for a consultation, stating that Yuri Dmitriev was healthy, it later explained that the on-site oncologist had been drafted for military service in Ukraine in 2022, and refused to provide Yuri Dmitriev an alternative oncologist. After Yuri Dmitriev was transferred to the prison hospital due to abdominal pain, in July 2024, a physician acknowledged the need for oncological consultation, but at the time of publication of this Urgent Appeal, no such consultation has been provided.

In addition, Yuri Dmitriev suffers from other severe and chronic conditions, including respiratory issues, a gastric ulcer, elevated blood sugar, and progressive hearing loss. He also has long-standing cardiovascular problems causing high blood pressure and frequent episodes of dizziness. Despite his state of health, the prison administration has repeatedly sent Yuri Dmitriev to a punishment cell (“SHIZO” in Russian) for alleged violations of the prison rules, including on 17 January 2025, for “poorly performing the morning exercise”. Before, in March 2023, Yuri Dmitriev was placed in a punishment cell for 15 days for sitting down on his bed during daytime, which is against prison rules. He sat down because he was about to lose consciousness after being forced to stand all day.

The Observatory recalls that Yuri Dmitriev was arrested in December 2016 on fabricated charges of child pornography (Articles 135 and 242.2 of the Russian Criminal Code) after an anonymous tip-off for taking naked pictures of his adoptive daughter. Yuri Dmitriev claimed in court that the pictures were made to monitor her health for the social services. During the trial that started in June 2017, an expert evaluation found the incriminated pictures non-pornographic, and a psychological examination of the girl established that Mr Yuri Dmitriev had caused no harm to his child. The conclusions of the psychiatric examination of Mr Dmitriev found no pedophile inclinations.

On 5 April 2018, the Petrozavodsk City Court acquitted Yuri Dmitriev on child pornography charges, however, on 14 June 2018, Karelia’s High Court overturned the ruling, after the Prosecutor’s office reportedly presented a new psychological examination of Mr Dmitriev’s adoptive daughter, made after the decision of acquittal. Neither Yuri Dmitriev nor his lawyer were notified about the new examination or apprised of the results.

On 27 June 2018, Yuri Dmitriev was arrested again, placed in pre-trial detention and stripped of guardianship rights over his adoptive daughter.

Initially sentenced to three and a half years in prison on 22 July 2020 by the Petrozavodsk City Court under Article 132.4(B) of the Russian Criminal Code (“violent actions of a sexual character against a person under 14 years old”), Mr Dmitriev’s sentence was extended first to 13, and eventually to 15 years in total by the Petrozavodsk City Court in 2021. In March 2022, the Russian Supreme Court rejected the final appeal of Yuri Dmitriev’s lawyer.

The Observatory further recalls that Yuri Dmitriev is a historian who has dedicated his life to locating and documenting the remains of victims executed during Stalin’s “Great Terror”. In 1997, he was part of a team that uncovered a mass grave in Sandarmokh (north-west Russia), which attracted significant national and international attention. This discovery angered Russian officials, who were seeking to hide crimes committed during the Soviet-era. After the discovery of the burial site, he worked continuously on compiling a name-by-name list of the Sandarmokh victims and published the book "Execution Site: Sandarmokh". Mr Dmitriev was one of the organisers and regular participants in memorial rallies on the Day of Remembrance for Victims of Terror. Yuri Dmitriev became one of the first victims of Russian state policy aimed at erasing the memory of Stalinist repressions. The persecution of independent historians like Yuri Dmitriev through smear campaigns, intimidation and criminal prosecution is common in Russia and constitutes a brutal attempt to silence all those opposing the regime’s efforts to falsify and rewrite history, concealing the mass crimes against humanity that were committed.

The Observatory expresses its utmost concern over the degrading health condition of Yuri Dmitriev while in detention, and urges the Russian authorities to immediately provide him with adequate medical care, including oncological treatment.

The Observatory strongly condemns Yuri Dmitriev’s ongoing arbitrary detention, and calls on the Russian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release him.

Actions requested:

Please write to the authorities of the Russian Federation, urging them to:

1. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical integrity and psychological well-being of Yuri Dmitriev and immediately provide adequate medical treatment, including oncological treatment;
2. Immediately and unconditionally release Mr Yuri Dmitriev as well as all human rights defenders arbitrarily detained in the country;
3. Put an end any act of harassment, including at the judicial level, against Mr. Yuri Dmitriev, as well as against all human rights defenders in the country;
4. Ensure in all circumstances respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with the international human rights instruments ratified by the Russian Federation, as well as recognised human rights standards, such as the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners.

Addresses:

• Mr. Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, Twitter: @KremlinRussia_E
• Mr. Mikhail Mishustin, Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, Twitter: @GovernmentRF
• Mr. Sergey Lavrov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, e-mail: ministry@mid.ru
• Mr. Igor Krasnov, General Prosecutor of the Russian Federation, e-mail: pressa@genproc.gov.ru
• Mr. Alexander Bortnikov, Director of Federal Security Service (FSS), e-mail: fsb@fsb.ru
• Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, E-mail: mission.russian@vtxnet.ch
• Embassy of the Russian Federation in Brussels, Belgium, e-mail: mission.russian@vtxnet.ch
Please also write to the diplomatic representations of the Russian Federation in your respective countries.

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Paris-Geneva, 26 February 2025

Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (the Observatory) was created in 1997 by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT). The objective of this programme is to prevent or remedy situations of repression against human rights defenders.

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