A Latvian citizen is sentenced to six years in prison for warfare in Ukraine in the Russian Army / Day

The Riga City Court has approved the agreement concluded by the prosecutor with the accused of guilty and sentence in criminal cases.

The accused violated the prohibition of serving the Latvian National Security Law in the foreign armed forces and signed a contract for the military service in the Russian army in 2023. He was assigned to Chelyabinsk, where he began his service in the 80th regiment of the Russian Armed Forces, in the artillery unit.

In October, he was sent to Russia’s war zone in Ukraine. During the war in the Donetsk region, he has violated the article of the Criminal Law, which prohibits actively participating in an armed conflict outside Latvia, which is against the territorial inviolability and political independence of the country, and contradicts Latvia’s binding international law.

According to the accusation, the man has built a defense fortifications – the Blindage – the Russian Armed Forces, performed the security assignment functions with a Russian service firearm and ammunition issued by Russia, and participated in tactical battles and shooting training.

In addition, the accused last autumn, in order to get from Russia, crossed the country’s external border illegally.

In all three crimes, the accused has been pleaded guilty of a softening circumstance, openly admitted and repented, the prosecutor’s office explains. He expressed his readiness to reimburse the state for procedural expenses.

After assessing the severity, character, harmfulness and personality of the accused, as well as the accused fully pleaded guilty and exercised by the Criminal Procedure Law, the right to cooperate, which manifested himself in a simpler process of choice, the prosecutor concluded an agreement on guilty recognition and penalty.

It has already been reported that the man was arrested on October 7, 2024 by the State Border Guard (VRS) in Skilbeni parish, when he tried to illegally cross the border from Russia. The VRS began criminal proceedings against the intentional crossing of the external border. The National Security Service took over this criminal proceedings in its records by squatting in the investigation of the crime established by the SLS within its criminal proceedings.