Russia steps up legal attack against hunter of Stalin's mass graves

[TomSea]

Russia steps up legal attack against hunter of Stalin's mass graves
Andrew Osborn

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian historian whose exposure of Soviet leader Josef Stalin’s crimes angered officials was accused on Thursday by state investigators of sexually assaulting his adopted daughter, after having been cleared of similar charges in April.

The new accusation was made as Russia hosts the soccer World Cup, an event opposition politicians have accused the authorities of using to try to bury bad news at a time when Human Rights Watch says the country is experiencing its “worst human rights crisis” since the Soviet era.

Some of Russia’s leading cultural figures have said that Yuri Dmitriev is being persecuted because his focus on Stalin’s crimes jars with the Kremlin narrative that Russia must not be ashamed of its past.

Read more at: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-politics-history/russia-steps-up-legal-attack-against-hunter-of-stalins-mass-graves-idUSKBN1JO1NL