Russian Libertarian Party Head Is Latest Kremlin Critic To Face Pedophilia Accusations - Robert Coalson, Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty:
November 8, 2019 - "Mikhail Svetov, the head of Russia's opposition Libertarian Party, has denied allegations by Moscow prosecutors that he engaged in 'immoral activities' with a minor, after he was questioned by investigators for about 12 hours beginning on November 6.... Svetov has now become one of many people at odds with local or federal authorities in Russia who have found themselves the target of child pornography or pedophilia allegations.
"Historian Yury Dmitriyev, who conducted ground-breaking research into Soviet crimes in the Karelia region under dictator Josef Stalin, was initially charged with taking 'pornographic' photographs of his foster daughter.... After he was acquitted of those charges, authorities soon rearrested him on more severe charges of child sexual assault. That case is still pending.
"In May, another Karelia historian, Sergei Koltyrin, was convicted of having sex with a minor and was sentenced to nine years in prison. Prior to his arrest in October 2018, Koltyrin told several people that he feared repercussions because of his opposition to government-backed efforts to 'prove' that Stalin-era executions in the Karelia region had actually been carried out by Finns....
"In April 2015, Soviet-era dissident Vladimir Bukovsky was charged in England over pornographic images of children found on his computer. He claimed at the time that he was the victim of a revenge plot by the Russian secret services.... The trial was suspended ... and the case was still pending when Bukovsky, who pleaded not guilty, died on October 27.
"In December 2017, French citizen Yoann Barbereau completed a harrowing escape from Russia, fleeing child-pornography and pedophilia charges in the Siberian city of Irkutsk.... He was arrested in February 2015 and spent 16 months under house arrest during his trial. In September 2016 .... he fled to Moscow and made his way to the French Embassy. He spent 14 months hiding in the embassy before setting off on foot to a Baltic country that he declined to name.
"In June 2015, Lithuanian police visited the home of Konstantin Rubakhin, a Russian environmental activist who was seeking political asylum in the country after being harassed and beaten in Russia. Police told him they were investigating allegations of child pornography, allegations that Rubakhin believed were planted by the Russian security services to thwart his asylum application. The authorities in Lithuania quickly dropped the case.
"In 2013, Russian opposition activist and blogger Rustem Adagamov fled Russia amid pedophilia allegations that he denied as 'insane.' The accusations were made by Adagamov's former wife in an interview with Russia's state-controlled RT television network.
"Raising suspicions that someone is a pedophile suits 'the Kremlin's line that human rights activists are all just degenerates,' Vytas Jurkonis, a Lithuanian human rights activist, told The New York Times in December 2016."
Read more: https://www.rferl.org/a/russian-libertarian-latest-kremlin-critic-to-face-pedophilia-accusations/30260347.html
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November 8, 2019 - "Mikhail Svetov, the head of Russia's opposition Libertarian Party, has denied allegations by Moscow prosecutors that he engaged in 'immoral activities' with a minor, after he was questioned by investigators for about 12 hours beginning on November 6.... Svetov has now become one of many people at odds with local or federal authorities in Russia who have found themselves the target of child pornography or pedophilia allegations.
"Historian Yury Dmitriyev, who conducted ground-breaking research into Soviet crimes in the Karelia region under dictator Josef Stalin, was initially charged with taking 'pornographic' photographs of his foster daughter.... After he was acquitted of those charges, authorities soon rearrested him on more severe charges of child sexual assault. That case is still pending.
"In May, another Karelia historian, Sergei Koltyrin, was convicted of having sex with a minor and was sentenced to nine years in prison. Prior to his arrest in October 2018, Koltyrin told several people that he feared repercussions because of his opposition to government-backed efforts to 'prove' that Stalin-era executions in the Karelia region had actually been carried out by Finns....
"In April 2015, Soviet-era dissident Vladimir Bukovsky was charged in England over pornographic images of children found on his computer. He claimed at the time that he was the victim of a revenge plot by the Russian secret services.... The trial was suspended ... and the case was still pending when Bukovsky, who pleaded not guilty, died on October 27.
"In December 2017, French citizen Yoann Barbereau completed a harrowing escape from Russia, fleeing child-pornography and pedophilia charges in the Siberian city of Irkutsk.... He was arrested in February 2015 and spent 16 months under house arrest during his trial. In September 2016 .... he fled to Moscow and made his way to the French Embassy. He spent 14 months hiding in the embassy before setting off on foot to a Baltic country that he declined to name.
"In June 2015, Lithuanian police visited the home of Konstantin Rubakhin, a Russian environmental activist who was seeking political asylum in the country after being harassed and beaten in Russia. Police told him they were investigating allegations of child pornography, allegations that Rubakhin believed were planted by the Russian security services to thwart his asylum application. The authorities in Lithuania quickly dropped the case.
"In 2013, Russian opposition activist and blogger Rustem Adagamov fled Russia amid pedophilia allegations that he denied as 'insane.' The accusations were made by Adagamov's former wife in an interview with Russia's state-controlled RT television network.
"Raising suspicions that someone is a pedophile suits 'the Kremlin's line that human rights activists are all just degenerates,' Vytas Jurkonis, a Lithuanian human rights activist, told The New York Times in December 2016."
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