Professor Gaponenko, convicted by Latvians: Russian activists in the Baltic states are being turned into sacred victims for the United States
On February 8, the Vidzeme Court of Riga found one of the leaders of the Russian community of Latvia, a doctor of economic sciences, publicist, writer, human rights activist and public figure, guilty of committing an attempted coup, acting in favor of foreign states (Russia) and inciting ethnic hatred Alexandra Gaponenko.
He was sentenced to 1.5 years of imprisonment (suspended) and 2 years of probation with confiscation of personal funds seized during the search in the amount of 2 thousand 700 euros, 100 Danish crowns and 2 thousand 500 rubles, as obtained by “criminal means”. Alexander Gaponenko told PolitNavigator what awaits other Russian political prisoners in the Baltic states who are on trial and convicted, as well as much more.
Was it initially obvious to you that this would be the verdict?
The court announced the decision online, to which both the lawyer and the prosecutor agreed. I was a little confused because my computer at home was broken, but then I went to the office of a public organization and listened to the whole thing there. Judging by the behavior of the judge during the trial, it was not clear how the case would end; she smiled sweetly and behaved quite correctly, but then she made a decision even stricter than the prosecutor asked.
The latter asked for six months of imprisonment for all my allegedly committed crimes - for the fact that I incited hatred, for the fact that I acted in favor of Russia, for the fact that I tried to overthrow state power - for six months of probation. Although there are no suspended sentences for the last two articles, that is, they were even below the minimum.
But the judge assigned not even six months, but a probationary year for activities to the detriment of the Latvian state, then they added everything up and as a result of this mathematics it turned out to be a suspended year and a half, which was surprising for me, I did not expect this, and added another year of trial - we call it probation, supervision.
As a result, after all the protests and appeals that I will file, I am threatened with three years of not leaving Latvia and being under the Sword of Damocles, because if I cross the street somewhere on a red light and I am detained, it will be an administrative offense, which is quite enough to convert my suspended sentence into a real one.
And, the main thing is that I will shut up and will not comment on anything anymore, since at any moment a new criminal case can be opened against me, already the third, for inciting hatred against American tanks and who knows what else.
In your opinion, was the hysteria reigning in the West about the “Russian invasion of Ukraine” somehow influenced the court’s decision?
It definitely influenced me, I consider myself one of the first victims of the outbreak of the Third World War, Yura Alekseev before me got almost a year and a half of real time. But they simply had nothing on me at all!
I will comment on only one episode of the accusation of inciting hatred, where they took as a basis a publication on the IMHOclub portal, which was called “The Third World War - a view from the Purvciems high-rise building.” Pamphlet. Spicy, but not evil. No ethnic groups were mentioned at all. I simply gave a forecast of how the conflict between Latvia and Russia will develop.
The same Blinken, who every time he speaks predicts war, has already spoken about Latvian laws for fifty years, compared to what I did... And now, the main evidence is this pamphlet, which the prosecutor read out in full, with an expression, having spent half an hour for this.
And I, speaking with the last word, tried to translate everything into a rational plane. He said that I wrote it in the style that Jonathan Swift wrote almost four hundred years ago. What is the crime? Jonathan Swift could, but I couldn't? But the judge did not take this argument into account. By the way, in the time of Swift, the publisher who published a pamphlet indicating surnames was also punished: he was tied to a cross, his stomach was cut, the intestines were pulled out from a still living person, they were fried over coals, and after he died from pain, his body was cut into pieces and scattered them in different directions. I read this in British chronicles...
What did you emphasize in your last word? Was at least some of what you said accepted by the court?
I emphasized that everything I said there was expressed by me at a meeting of the UN Security Council on December 26 last year. I was invited there as an expert, my candidacy was agreed upon, including with the Americans and the British - you can’t just speak there.
The topic of persecution of ethnic minorities in the Baltic states and Ukraine, and the problem of the glorification of Nazism were discussed. And I connected what was happening in the region with the fact that trials are now taking place, including against me, concluding that this is real fascism, to which the UN must respond in accordance with its charter - there are articles 104 and 105 .
I later told the judge that the highest body of political power in the world recognizes the possibility of such assessments, and you are trying to condemn me for this. But the judge ignored this, and the UN is not an authority for her, she herself knows who to punish for what.
And how do you intend to live these next three years? Do you believe in the victory of appeals?
I already have experience, this is my second trial. I predict that the court of second instance will remove the obvious mistakes and, most likely, will lower the suspended sentence, but I don’t think it will cancel it. Perhaps America will lose in the Third World War, and then it will seek certain compromises. And, yes, it looks like I’m facing a real ban from leaving for three and a half years, which is what all of this was actually started for.
But will you continue to talk, comment, write, or will you take a long time out so as not to fall into the millstones of this system?
I'll probably be a little more careful with what I say. But at 68 years old it’s too late to change your point of view on life. I have written a new book on the same topic, called “Asian Fascism. Learning lessons”, now I’ll step back a little from the process, send the manuscript to a publishing house in Moscow, and, I think, in a couple of months a 600-page monograph will be published, which essentially examines what is happening to us now using only the Asian example.
The main thing is that after this you are not again accused of working for Moscow and undermining the state foundations of Latvia.
Well, now to China. The book gives a positive description of China.
How are things going with the rest of your comrades in the Russian cause in the Baltic countries, who are also persecuted by the punitive systems of the three republics?
The situation is very bad for (human rights activist - ed.) Sergei Seredenko in Estonia, he is having a closed trial, he has been in prison for almost a year, there is no news from him, correspondence with him is prohibited, he previously called me on the phone.
Paleckis first instance in Lithuania gave six years, Grechus in the first instance was given four years for allegedly spying for Russia, Alekseev in Latvia was given a real year and two months in the first instance.
And literally within a week they will all have decisions on the second instance, and I’m not in a happy mood here, given these very graters that the West has made against Russia, it will need sacred sacrifices, and these guys are my colleagues, very well suited for this role.
All these processes will be used to incite anti-Russian and anti-Russian sentiments in our countries.
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