The Dudarew Case

[Thomas Wolf]

"Professor Suprun is charged with violating Article 137, Part 1 of the Russian Federation Criminal Code — “Illegal gathering of confidential information about an individual’s private life without his or her consent.” In addition, he is suspected of “inciting an official to commit acts that clearly exceed his authority and that led to a significant violation of the rights and legal interests of citizens” (Article 286 of the Russian Federation Criminal Code, in conjunction with Article 33, Part 4). These charges stem from Mikhail Suprun’s academic research, which involves compilation of a data base on Germans — both Soviet citizens of German extraction and civilian German nationals — who were exiled to Arkhangelsk Region during WWII and the immediate postwar period. The date base also contains information about German POWs in the prison camps of Arkhangelsk Region. This research was conducted within the framework of an agreement concluded in 2007 between the German Red Cross and Pomorsk State University. According to police investigators, by compiling a list of five thousand victims of deportation, Suprun was engaged in the “gathering of information about their private lives without their consent.”

The fact that Colonel Dudarev provided Suprun with access to the archives of the Information Center of the Interior Ministry Directorate —archives that were essential to his research — is interpreted by investigators as “abuse of authority by an official.” ......"

For further information:
http://chtodelat.wordpress.com/2009/10/24/stop-the-criminal-prosecu...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/15/russia-gulag-historian-...

I would be appreciate, if You sign the petition, which is mentioned and described on the chtodelat-Blog (Link see above). Link to the petition: http://www.zaprava.ru/content/view/2034/9/#josc4365.

Please spread this "news" on Your own blogs or via twitter. Write Your archivists association to follow the example of Marianne Birthler, head of the German "Stasi-archives", who has written an open letter to the Russian president. You can see this letter here: http://www.bstu.bund.de/cln_012/nn_715182/DE/Presse/Pressemitteilun...