A Latvian taxi driver has been sentenced to seven years in prison for passing on photos and information related to the Latvian army and NATO troops to a network believed to have spied for Moscow, AFP reported, quoted by BTA.
According to the Latvian security services, Sergey Sidorov “used his discreet appearance and his profession as a taxi driver to move and photograph NATO ships and loading and unloading activities in the port of Riga, as well as to spy on bases of NATO and their multinational personnel“.
The Riga court confirmed that, among other things, in March 2023 “Sidorov reported on numerous NATO activities around Riga while he was engaged at the airport to drive military personnel to two bases”.
Sidorov also passed on information about a test site for NATO and Ukrainian drones and requested instructions from his associates to develop a bomb to detonate at a civilian oil terminal in the city of Riga.
Following Russia's military invasion of Ukraine, a group of Kremlin sympathizers created a network on the messaging app “Telegram” in Latvia, called “Baltic Anti-Fascists“, which unites volunteers ready to collect confidential information for the defense of the country.
This network is currently the subject of separate proceedings in the Latvian court.
After the verdict was announced today, Sidorov commented only that he would try to appeal it.
A Russian citizen, detained in Finland, was accused of a series of war crimes committed in Ukraine in 2014, France Press reported, quoted by BTA.
Voislav Torden, head of the paramilitary neo-Nazi group "Rusic", was detained by Finnish police at Helsinki airport in July last year.
The 37-year-old Russian citizen is suspected of having participated in the murder of 22 Ukrainian soldiers in the Luhansk region in the fall of 2014. In addition, he has "severely wounded" four others.
"The Deputy Prosecutor General charged him with five war crimes before the court in Helsinki," the prosecutor's office said in a statement.
The other charges mostly relate to the methods he used, including mutilating Ukrainian soldiers, according to the same source.
Torden, also known by his former name Jan Petrovski, denies involvement.
Finland's Supreme Court has already ruled against his extradition to Ukraine, citing concerns that he could be subjected to inhumane detention conditions there.
Finland applies the principle of universal jurisdiction for such crimes, which means that it can bring charges for some serious crimes regardless of where they were committed, recalls AFP.
A Belarusian journalist and oppositionist, who was under house arrest in Belgrade awaiting extradition to Minsk, announced that he had left Serbia and gone to a European Union country, France Press reported, quoted by BTA.
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Belarus has requested the extradition of Andrej Gnjot, who was arrested in 2023 in the Serbian capital on money laundering charges that his supporters say are politically motivated.
Gnot indicated today on “Instagram” that he was “evacuated from Serbia to the EU” after “a year of desperate struggle, seven months and six days in prison and five months under house arrest”.
“My story is a Hollywood movie!“, added the journalist. “Please give me some time to get used to the freedom and security I have not had for so long.
Gnoth did not give details about the country he is traveling to, saying only that he will speak to the media in the coming days.
Andrej Gnjot was arrested at the end of October 2023 in Belgrade, where he was shooting a promotional video, at the request of Interpol in connection with an accusation of tax fraud in the amount of several hundred thousand euros. The request was subsequently withdrawn.
Gnyot has always denied these accusations and said it was an attempt by the Belarusian government to silence him.
The journalist was the initiator of the creation of an association, which in 2020 supported the demonstrations against the re-election of Alexander Lukashenko as president of Belarus.
In recent months, Serbian judicial authorities have twice ruled on his extradition, but both decisions were overturned on appeal.
The journalist who fled Belarus in 2021 feared for his life if returned to his homeland.