Irish crew members of the Northabout expedition staged a protest outside the Russian Embassy in Dublin on Tuesday (27 October) to call for the release of historian Yury Dmitriev.
The Gulag researcher, historian and human rights activist has dedicated most of his life to documenting burial sites of those who died during Soviet-era repression.
The Northabout crew, who successfully transited the North-West and North-East passages, met Dmitriev during their navigation of the White Sea–Baltic Canal in 2012.
Standing Together – Members of the Northabout expedition outside the Russian Embassy in Dublin on Tuesday, 27 October, renewing their call for the release of imprisoned Russian historian Yury Dmitriev. Photo: Northabout crew
Michael Brogan, who participated in Tuesday's protest with his brother Colm, along with Paddy Barry, Jarlath Cunnane and Kevin Cronin, said Dmitriev had recently suffered a stroke and there were serious concerns about his health.
Dmitriev worked with the prominent human rights group Memorial on documenting Soviet-era repression.
During the 1937–1938 Great Terror, at least 700,000 people were executed, according to official figures. The historian located a mass grave containing thousands of bodies of people held in the Gulag, the Soviet prison camp network.
Fourteen Years On – Mick and Colm Brogan with Russian historian Yury Dmitriev (centre) at a mass burial site near Petrozavodsk in 2012, during the Northabout expedition's passage through Russia. Photo: Northabout crew
In February 2022, the Northabout crew and Irish members of the human rights group PEN International held a silent vigil outside the Russian Embassy over his imprisonment.
The previous December, a Russian court had added two more years to a 13-year jail sentence imposed on Dmitriev after he was found guilty of sexually abusing his adopted daughter — a charge he has denied.
His supporters say the charges were fabricated to punish him for uncovering mass graves.
Since May 2022, he has been held in remote prison camps in Mordovia, used in Soviet times to hold political prisoners and violent offenders, hundreds of miles from his family in Karelia.
