On Wednesday, the 10th of July, Riga City Court sentenced pro-Kremlin activist Jeļena Kreile to three years in prison for using Russian symbols and other symbols of war on windows in her home multiple times, as reported by LETA.
Kreile has the right to challenge the verdict at Riga Regional Court.
The prosecutor requested three years and six months in prison for Kreile. LETA was told by the prosecution office that the prosecutor is satisfied with the sentence and will not submit a protest.
The woman is accused of publicly glorifying and justifying Russia’s committed crimes against peace and war crimes in Ukraine, as well as Soviet genocide, crimes against humanity, crimes against peace and war crimes in Latvia, as LETA was previously told by the prosecution office.
According to the prosecution, between the 7th of March 2023 and the 15th of June 2023, the woman, in an effort to show her support for Russia, placed a home-made Russian flag with the writing “Dievs sargā Latviju” [God guards Latvia], Russian flag with no writing, as well as a home-made Russian flag with the writing “Путин мой друг” [Putin is my friend] on the windows of her home.
The woman also placed white-blue-red sticky tapes, resembling the Russian flag, as well as a red id bearing he Russian coat of arms and the writing “МВД России” [Russian Ministry of the Interior].
She also posted a photo with four women. In this photo, one of the women had a red dress on with USSR symbols – hammer and sickle. In the background of the photo there was a textile piece in white-blue-red, resembling the Russian flag.
The accused, knowing that Russia is engaged in a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, publicly showed support of this aggressor country’s government, as well as glorified and justified this country’s committed crimes.
The woman does not admit her guilt in the crimes she is accused of.
Another criminal case involving Kreile was submitted to Riga City Court at the end of May. According to the prosecution, at Kreile’s residence, a cloth in the colour of the US flag was placed on the windows, but against the background of the fabric, a photo of two people in uniforms similar to the USSR army, as well as a picture similar to the flag of the USSR was seen. The case review date is not set just yet, LETA reports.
In autumn 2023, in a different criminal case, Riga City Court sentenced Kreile to a conditional one year prison sentence for justifying genocide, crimes against humanity, crimes against peace and war crimes.
The verdict was appealed and will be reviewed by Vidzeme Regional Court on the 11th of September.
Kreile was seen in public places and public events carrying a bag with the letter “Z” on it, which used in Russian resources as a symbol representing Russia’s war against Ukraine.
The accused also showed support to the aggressor state at the Russian embassy in Riga in a time when a protest act was being held there. The accused also regularly performed other provocative actions aimed at glorifying and justifying Russian aggression in the past.
Baltic centre for investigative journalism Re:Baltica previously reported that Kreile is someone who was born and raised in Latvia, but does not speak Latvian very well. The protester in her woke up during Covid-19 pandemic, when it was required for residents to present vaccination certificates to enter stores. This is when her clashes with law enforcers started for the first time.
The woman has reiterated to reporters that she does not stand for either war or Russian President Vladimir Putin. Kreile does not admit guilt in any of the cases, but believes that the targeting of her occurs because “evil forces turn against the good, they are demons.”