Court keeps Iveta Balode in detention over alleged spying for Russia

Riga City Court on Thursday rejected a request to release Iveta Balode, who is accused of collecting intelligence in Latvia and passing it to Russian special services through the pro-Kremlin criminal organisation Baltic Antifascists, LSM reported.

Balode’s lawyer asked the court to change her detention measure, but prosecutor Martins Jansons opposed the request. He said Balode had links to Russia and could leave Latvia to join her husband, Sergei Vasiliev, in Russia. Jansons also said the couple earned income there by editing books.

Vasiliev is accused of leading Baltic Antifascists and is internationally wanted. He currently lives in Russia.

The court rejected the request, noting that the legally required two months had not passed since the previous application to change Balode’s security measure.

Balode’s lawyer also asked the court to question Vasiliev by videoconference so that he would not have to leave Russia. The lawyer said he was in regular contact with Vasiliev, who was ready to testify.

Jansons said that if Vasiliev wanted to testify, he could come to Latvia and give evidence remotely from a detention facility or in person under escort. The court will decide later how Vasiliev should be questioned.

Deputy heads of the State Security Service, Eriks Cinkus and Andris Rapins, had been summoned to the hearing. However, the service sent the court a letter saying they could not be considered witnesses and asked their absence to be deemed justified.

Jansons said Cinkus and Rapins should be treated as witnesses because the case file contained documents signed by them and because they had compiled information obtained by the State Security Service. Balode’s lawyer had also requested that they be called.

The court ruled that the two officials’ absence was unjustified and ordered them to attend the next hearing.

Balode denies the charges and said they were not entirely clear to her.

She also said she wanted to be escorted to future hearings so she could meet her supporters, including pro-Kremlin activists Alla Berezovska and Jelena Kreile. Kreile was recently released after serving a one-year prison sentence for justifying genocide, crimes against humanity, crimes against peace and war crimes.