On 17 June, Latvian State Security Service (VDD) asked the Prosecution Office to initiate criminal prosecution against a citizen of the Republic of Latvia for publicly glorifying and justifying the war crimes committed by Russia, as well as for triggering national and ethnic hatred and enmity in the society.
VDD initiated the criminal case against this person on 26 March 2024 pursuant to Section 741 and Section 78 of the Criminal Law. VDD discovered several videos in Russian language on the social website "TikTok", in which the person disseminated various statements and messages of a hostile nature against Latvians and Ukrainians in response to Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, as well as statements aimed at triggering national and ethnic hatred and enmity.
VDD had previously informed that on 25 April 2024 the Service carried out criminal proceedings at one site near Riga related to the person. During the criminal proceedings, VDD seized for further investigation several data carriers, the person’s notes, as well as garments and other items with symbols of Russia and Soviet Union.
The person came to the attention of VDD already in 2023 in connection with aggressive comments on the social networking site "Facebook", where the person expressed support for Russia. In August last year, VDD conducted preventive talks with this person, warning that such activities in the Internet environment are close to criminal offenses for which criminal liability is provided.
The suspect has been applied the security measure – arrest.
Information prepared by VDD
