Russia Slams Latvia For Sentencing Minority Rights Activist In Political Trial

A spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry criticized Latvia on Wednesday for handing what she called a politically motivated sentence to minority rights activist Alexander Gaponenko last week

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th February, 2022) A spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry criticized Latvia on Wednesday for handing what she called a politically motivated sentence to minority rights activist Alexander Gaponenko last week.

A court in Riga gave Gaponenko a 1.5-year suspended sentence, which comes with a 2-year probation period, for allegedly inciting ethic hatred. The activist is known in Latvia for defending the right of the Russian minority to study in their native language.

"The utterly politicized sentence handed to Alexander Gaponenko is another reminder of a sinister atmosphere of true political terror faced by people in the Latvian civil society who dare to reject discrimination of national minorities," Maria Zakharova said.

The spokeswoman criticized the Baltic nation for using a "punitive justice system" to crack down on dissent and accused the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and Council of Europe rights bodies of closing their eyes to the problem.