On 26 June, the Riga City Court found Svetlana Nikolaeva and Sergei Sidorov guilty of gathering classified information for the benefit of Russia, and sentenced them to five and six years’ imprisonment respectively. This was reported by the Lithuanian media on Friday.
Specifically, the court sentenced Svetlana Nikolaeva to five years’ imprisonment and two years’ probation. Taking into account the time she has already spent in custody, Nikolaeva must serve a further two years and 10 months in prison.
Sidorov was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment and two years’ probation. Taking into account the time already spent in custody, he must serve a further three years and ten months in prison.
The pre-trial detention order imposed on Nikolaeva and Sidorov was left unchanged until the sentence comes into force.
The verdict may be appealed to higher courts.
In particular, Sidorov was accused of asking one of the prisoners to find out the names of other defendants charged with espionage. He was subsequently provided with the personal details of three such individuals.
During the court proceedings, Sidorov’s lawyer, commenting on this, explained that his words “spies just like me” should be interpreted as “just as falsely accused”, according to the publication Delfi.
Svetlana Nikolaeva, who is on trial alongside Sidorov, was implicated in this criminal case after it emerged, according to the prosecution, it emerged that she had travelled to Russia not only to help her son with various documents, but also, in her own words, to collect money from Sidorov’s relative, intended to pay for legal representation.
The indictment states that in this way, Nikolaeva passed on information about prisoners, details of whom Sidorov had obtained.
According to the defence lawyer, Sidorov’s mother approached Nikolaeva herself, as the two defendants had previously been classmates.
As the lawyer noted, the accused spoke to each other on the phone only once, and the conversation lasted 32 seconds.
As reported by LSM, Nikolaeva is the mother of Aleksandr Dubyago, who in 2022 walked near a monument commemorating the occupation period whilst carrying a Russian flag. Subsequently, the Latvian State Security Service dropped the case brought against him.