In Russia, a photographer sentenced to sixteen years in prison for “high treason”
The PERM Regional Court in the Urals, on Thursday condemned local Russian photographer Grigori Skvortssov, 35, after a trial on closed doors, “At sixteen years of detention in a severe regime prison camp”for “high treason”.
As part of the trial, “High treason facts have been established and proven entirely”according to the press release from the judicial body, without further details if not than “Skvortsov pleaded not guilty”.
Specializing in the taking of industrial architecture photos, Mr. Skvortssov, arrested in November 2023, was accused of having put a book on Soviet bunkers built in Moscow and several other major Russian cities between 1930 and 1960 to an American journalist, according to Russian media.
In an interview written at the Pervy Otdel news site, led by a team of human rights defenders and classified “agent from abroad” in Russia, Grigori Skvortssov said in December 2024 that he also sent the American journalist documents and photos of declassified archives linked to this book.
He also assured that he had been beaten by police in order to be forced to recognize his guilt. The photographer had also publicly criticized the military offensive of Russia in Ukraine, according to Russian media.
Since the start of the Russian assault against Ukraine in February 2022, convictions, accompanied by heavy sorrows, for “betrayal”, “terrorism”, “sabotage” or “espionage”, have multiplied in Russia. In addition, thousands of people have been sanctioned, threatened or imprisoned because of their opposition to this conflict.
