Pro-Kremlin activist Jurijs Aleksejevs has appealed the verdict of the Riga District Court, by which he was sentenced to one year and one month in prison for inciting hatred and distributing child pornography, the LETA agency found out in court.
Pro-Kremlin activist Jurijs Aleksejevs has appealed the verdict of the Riga District Court, by which he was sentenced to one year and one month in prison for inciting hatred and distributing child pornography, the LETA agency found out in court.
Ingūna Amoliņa, the judge of the Riga Regional Court’s Criminal Court panel, previously stated that, when examining this criminal case on appeal, due to lack of evidence, the court decided to acquit Alekseeva of the part of the charge for the purchase and possession of unauthorized firearms ammunition.
In the remaining part of the indictment, the accused was found guilty, setting a final sentence one month less than the first instance court had sentenced him to. The sentence was imposed without an additional sentence in connection with the amendments to the Criminal Law favorable to the accused, which currently no longer provide for probation supervision as an additional sentence for the relevant criminal offense.
The case was heard in closed court sessions.
Alekseevs is mentioned in the public reports of the State Security Service (VDD) as a pro-Kremlin or pro-Russian political activist.
The criminal case was investigated before being handed over to the prosecutor’s office by the Prosecutor’s Office, which previously informed that the criminal proceedings were initiated on November 29, 2017 in connection with comments that called for “the end of all fascists”, which, according to the comments, include representatives of several specific nationalities, as well as addressing the language of one people, calling it “fascist”.
Also, according to the VDD, at least from October 1, 2016 to December 7, 2017, Alekseyev distributed content on the Internet aimed at inciting hatred or discord between representatives of different nationalities.
During procedural actions, or a search, firearm ammunition was found on Alekseev, for which he did not have a permit, as well as materials containing child pornography.
Aleksejevs was a member of the Riga City Council elected from the Russian Union of Latvia from 2005 to 2009. He founded the website “imhoclub.lv”, which for several years served as a platform for the distribution of publications by persons related to the implementation of the policy of Russian compatriots.
At the Kurzeme district court in Ventspils, there is currently another criminal case for activities directed against the sovereignty of Latvia, in which three persons – Aleksejeevs and two non-citizens – are accused.
