Moscow considers the statements of Paris, Berlin and other partners in the case of historian Yuri Dmitriev as an act of interference in the internal affairs of Russia, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th October, 2020) Moscow considers the statements of Paris, Berlin and other partners in the case of historian Yuri Dmitriev as an act of interference in the internal affairs of Russia, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.
Last Tuesday, the Supreme Court of Karelia toughened Dmitriev's punishment from 3.5 to 13 years in a maximum security colony. He was found guilty of sexually assaulting his adopted daughter, who at that time was less than 14 years old. The defense plans to appeal the 13-year term. According to Zakharova, Moscow saw the statement of French and German top human rights officials, Francois Croquette and Baerbel Kofler, respectively, on September 30 in connection with the conviction of Dmitriev.
"We view the German-French move as an act of interference in the internal affairs of Russia and an attempt to call into question the decision of independent Russian courts," Zakharova said at a briefing.
"We would also like to point out that the presentation of sentence to Dmitriev by Berlin and Paris solely through the prism of his previous human rights activities, as if they don't understand what this is about, is groundless. Previous activities have absolutely nothing to do with it, his merits in the study of political repressions in the Soviet Union are not questioned by anyone. The question of his conviction lies exclusively in the criminal law," she said.
