Russian human rights activist arrested in the European Union
On April 20, Security Police (PB) officers detained public figure, activist of the Headquarters for the Protection of Russian Schools and head of the “Congress of Non-Citizens” Alexander Gaponenko. This was reported by Delfi.
The detention was carried out within the framework of a criminal trial launched on April 4 regarding actions directed against state sovereignty, the territorial integrity of Latvia, state power or the state system. This is punishable by imprisonment for up to eight years.
As part of the ongoing criminal process, PB officers carried out authorized searches at facilities with which the suspect was associated.
In February last year, a case was brought to court in which Gaponenko is accused of inciting ethnic hatred. His hearing is scheduled for July 19.
This week, the head of the Latvian Seimas, Ainar Latkovskis, asked the PB to evaluate Gaponenko’s Facebook posts that ethnic cleansing would be carried out in Riga in May with the help of the Americans.
Gaponenko described a scenario where American military personnel disguised as Russian-speaking people initiate riots, which will be reflected in the media as riots initiated by Russia, and then the PB will carry out arrests of Russian-speaking people, which will end with the creation of a concentration camp on the territory of the Skonto stadium.
“Is the Latvian political power really so weak and cowardly that a 64-year-old professor poses a threat to the country’s independence and political system? Alexander Gaponenko had every right to do what he did: disseminate information that was important, from his point of view,” the Russian Union of Latvia states on its Facebook page.
“Full-fledged totalitarian terror against Russian activists has begun in Latvia. Gaponenko is a wonderful activist, writer, but in no way a spy or terrorist. His arrest actually means the beginning of persecution in the European Union for the very fact of Russian identity,” Russian publicist Yegor Kholmogorov wrote in his telegram channel.
Russian human rights activist arrested in EU