<p>Russian prosecutors demanded on Tuesday that a respected Gulag historian be sentenced to 15 years in prison over alleged sexual assault in a case his allies say has been trumped up to silence him.</p>.<p>Yury Dmitriyev, 64, spent decades locating and exhuming mass graves of people killed under Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin's rule.</p>.<p>Rights groups and supporters including many Russian actors have campaigned against Dmitriyev's years-long prosecution.</p>.<p>Activists say the case against him is an attempt to muzzle the outspoken historian who has called attention to one of the darkest chapters in Russia's history.</p>.<p>Dmitriyev is the head of leading rights group Memorial's branch in Karelia in northwestern Russia.</p>.<p>He was first arrested in late 2016 on child porn charges and spent more than a year in pre-trial detention before being released after calls from prominent figures for him to be freed.</p>.<p>In April 2018, he was acquitted of child pornography charges but in a stunning turnabout he was detained later that year again after a higher court overturned the "not guilty" verdict.</p>.<p>He was charged with alleged sexual assault and detained again.</p>.<p>On Tuesday, Dmitriyev's lawyer Viktor Anufriev said prosecutors in the northwestern city of Petrozavodsk demanded that he be sentenced to 15 years in a strict-regime penal colony.</p>.<p>Anufriyev told AFP his client would address court on Wednesday.</p>.<p>The prosecution has claimed the historian sexually abused his adopted daughter, the charges he denies.</p>.<p>Dmitriyev's previous case centred on naked photographs of his then pre-teen adopted daughter Natalya seized during a search of his home after an anonymous tip-off to police.</p>.<p>Dmitriyev is known for helping open the Sandarmokh memorial in a pine forest in Karelia in memory of thousands of victims -- including many foreigners -- murdered in 1937 and 1938.</p>
<p>Russian prosecutors demanded on Tuesday that a respected Gulag historian be sentenced to 15 years in prison over alleged sexual assault in a case his allies say has been trumped up to silence him.</p>.<p>Yury Dmitriyev, 64, spent decades locating and exhuming mass graves of people killed under Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin's rule.</p>.<p>Rights groups and supporters including many Russian actors have campaigned against Dmitriyev's years-long prosecution.</p>.<p>Activists say the case against him is an attempt to muzzle the outspoken historian who has called attention to one of the darkest chapters in Russia's history.</p>.<p>Dmitriyev is the head of leading rights group Memorial's branch in Karelia in northwestern Russia.</p>.<p>He was first arrested in late 2016 on child porn charges and spent more than a year in pre-trial detention before being released after calls from prominent figures for him to be freed.</p>.<p>In April 2018, he was acquitted of child pornography charges but in a stunning turnabout he was detained later that year again after a higher court overturned the "not guilty" verdict.</p>.<p>He was charged with alleged sexual assault and detained again.</p>.<p>On Tuesday, Dmitriyev's lawyer Viktor Anufriev said prosecutors in the northwestern city of Petrozavodsk demanded that he be sentenced to 15 years in a strict-regime penal colony.</p>.<p>Anufriyev told AFP his client would address court on Wednesday.</p>.<p>The prosecution has claimed the historian sexually abused his adopted daughter, the charges he denies.</p>.<p>Dmitriyev's previous case centred on naked photographs of his then pre-teen adopted daughter Natalya seized during a search of his home after an anonymous tip-off to police.</p>.<p>Dmitriyev is known for helping open the Sandarmokh memorial in a pine forest in Karelia in memory of thousands of victims -- including many foreigners -- murdered in 1937 and 1938.</p>