In 2012, I went in Carelia for a documentary project about the Belomorkanal, one of Stalin’s pharaonic projects that was built by gulag prisoners, and led to countless deaths. That’s how I met Yuri Dmitriev, a true eastern cowboy with his silver hair and beard, his camouflage outfit and his local rolled cigarets. Never going anywhere without his long lasting friend, a beautiful German shepherd.
Yuri gave himself a mission. For 20 years, he has been digging the land around the Belomorkanal, looking for the victims of Stalin’s repression, so he could give them a burial and a memory. He found many common graves, the largest of them containing more than ten thousands bodies.
A few years ago Yuri Dmitriev was arrested on heavy and unjust accusations. He is, to this day, still in custody.
