蜜芽传媒

A court in Russia has extended the prison time Gulag historian Yuri Dmitriyev must serve. Mr Dmitriyev gained prominence for finding the sites of mass graves from the Stalin era.

He was earlier handed a 13-year sentence on charges of sexual abuse - which he denies - but today a court added two more years to his term. Opposition activists, his friends and family say these charges have been trumped up.

Felix Light, a Moscow Times journalist, says at the same time Mr Dmitriyev faces more prison time, the authorities are trying to close down his human rights organisation 'Memorial'.

"These organisations, these individuals, these historians who've looked into Stalin-era crimes are really singled out by Russian security services who are very influential these days, so this is becoming a new front in Russia's war on civil society... I don't think the Russian government would excuse Stalin or his purges as such, but they'd certainly rather people didn't talk about them."

(Photo: Yuri Dmitriyev in 2018 after he was found not guilty of previous charges. Credit: Tass via Getty Images)

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