Other events in Baltic States

Last Sunday, National Bolshevik and Latvian citizen Vladimirs Lindermans attempted to enter Estonia from Helsinki, even though he is banned from entering the country, according to the Estonian newspaper Eesti Paevaleht.

The Estonian Border Guard confirmed to the newspaper that a Latvian citizen, who is banned from entering Estonia, was detained at Tallinn Port. He was thus sent back to Finland, writes LETA.

According to information, Lindermans was in Finland to meet with local political activists.

As reported, on October 6, the Riga Regional Court overturned the Riga Central District Court's ruling and convicted Lindermans of possession of weapons and explosives, and gave Lindermans a one-year prison sentence suspended for twelve months.

LETA also reported, the Riga Central District Court on July 3 this year acquitted Lindermans, but just a few days after that the Riga Northern District Prosecutor's Office submitted an appeal against the verdict.

Dzintra Vitolina, press secretary at the Prosecutor General's Office, said then that the not guilty verdict was unreasonable and that there is enough evidence in the case to convict Lindermans.

As the prosecution maintains, two detonators and TNT were found in Lindermans' residence on Pernavas Street in Riga. According to a search carried out by the Security Police, the mentioned explosive devices were found inside an armchair located in the apartment were Lindermans lived with his family. Seeing that traces of TNT were found on shirts owned by Lindermans, the prosecution believes that he was the one who hid the explosive devices in the armchair.

Lindermans was also previously accused of incitement to overthrow the government of Latvia, however, the prosecution did not have enough evidence to prosecute Lindermans on this charge.

As reported, Russia deported Lindermans to Latvia on March 19. Lindermans was detained in Moscow this past February. A Moscow court later ruled that Lindermans is to be deported from Russia because his visa had expired.

In November 2002, Lindermans arrived in Russia to testify in the trial of left-wing extremist, National Bolshevik Party leader Eduard Limonov. During the trial, Lindermans declared that he was the author of the project "Second Russia's Territory", which urges subversion of the government. A couple of days later, several National Bolshevik members were arrested in Latvia. During a search of Lindermans' residence, the Security Police found explosives.

Lindermans had turned to Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier seeking Russian citizenship, but his petition was rejected.