On April 14, 2025, the first hearing was held in the case called “the Baltic Antifascists' case”, Baltica portal reports. Six people are accused in this process, four of whom are in Russia and Belarus. In Latvia, the defendants were a student Tatiana Andriets and a former police officer, now a security guard Alexander Zhgun.
The court hearing lasted about 15 minutes. It was held in two locations: the judge was in Talsi, and the other participants in the trial - in the courtroom in Riga, but there were technical difficulties in setting up the video link. The judge expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that he could not fully see all the participants in the trial.
During the session, complaints about the organization of the process were voiced. In particular, the lawyer of Alexander Zhgun drew attention to the lack of an interpreter from the Russian language, which is necessary to understand legal terms. The judge replied that the translation was required only in cases when it was directly about the defendant.
It was also noted that Tatsiana Andriets was not present at the meeting due to health problems - it turned out that 8 months in prison and further waiting for the trial on the outside had broken Tanya - she was hospitalized with nervous exhaustion.
The lawyer said that these were medical problems and she had no right to disclose these data. The judge refused to take all those present out of the room to discuss the situation further.
At the end of the hearing it was decided to hold the next hearing on May 8, at which Tatsiana Andriets would be brought to the court under escort.
The court hearing lasted about 15 minutes. It was held in two locations: the judge was in Talsi, and the other participants in the trial - in the courtroom in Riga, but there were technical difficulties in setting up the video link. The judge expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that he could not fully see all the participants in the trial.
During the session, complaints about the organization of the process were voiced. In particular, the lawyer of Alexander Zhgun drew attention to the lack of an interpreter from the Russian language, which is necessary to understand legal terms. The judge replied that the translation was required only in cases when it was directly about the defendant.
It was also noted that Tatsiana Andriets was not present at the meeting due to health problems - it turned out that 8 months in prison and further waiting for the trial on the outside had broken Tanya - she was hospitalized with nervous exhaustion.
The lawyer said that these were medical problems and she had no right to disclose these data. The judge refused to take all those present out of the room to discuss the situation further.
At the end of the hearing it was decided to hold the next hearing on May 8, at which Tatsiana Andriets would be brought to the court under escort.