The Riga District Court continues the trial of the high-profile so-called espionage case involving Svetlana Nikolaeva and Sergei Sidorov. The court hearing revealed serious procedural violations and inconsistencies in the prosecution's case.
During Sergei Sidorov's questioning, the prosecutor's office challenged his relationship with Russian citizen Natalia, who had transferred funds to him to pay for his lawyer's services. The defense presented evidence to the court—a screenshot of a family photo from Facebook from 2010, captioned "My Family," featuring Sidorov and a relative. However, the court rejected the motion to include this evidence in the case file, citing formal grounds: the lack of consent from the individuals depicted in the photo and the lack of a translation of the caption into Latvian.
In her testimony, Svetlana Nikolaeva completely refuted the charges. She categorically denied asking Sidorov to collect any information about individuals held in Riga Prison for transmission to Russian authorities. The defendant also informed the court that she voluntarily deleted all her social media and messaging accounts, including Telegram, in December 2023 to protect herself from negative media exposure.
Nikolaeva drew the court's attention to Dmitry Mareev as the prosecution's key witness and expressed bewilderment why he himself was not being held accountable for collecting the data he was accused of.
During the trial, significant inconsistencies were discovered in the testimony of Mareev and Sidorov. The prosecution witness's claims about transmitting information via Telegram are not supported by timestamps in the audio recordings. Furthermore, Mareev was unable to provide key phone numbers and names directly relevant to the case.
Nikolaeva also denied accusations of mercenary motives, emphasizing that she had not received any monetary compensation for any information, and pointed out technical inconsistencies in the case materials.
Following the hearing, Judge Leitane adjourned to determine a preventive measure. Both defendants will remain in pretrial detention until the next hearing, scheduled for December 2, 2025. Human rights organizations have expressed serious concerns about the rights of the defendants and the fairness of the trial in this case.
During Sergei Sidorov's questioning, the prosecutor's office challenged his relationship with Russian citizen Natalia, who had transferred funds to him to pay for his lawyer's services. The defense presented evidence to the court—a screenshot of a family photo from Facebook from 2010, captioned "My Family," featuring Sidorov and a relative. However, the court rejected the motion to include this evidence in the case file, citing formal grounds: the lack of consent from the individuals depicted in the photo and the lack of a translation of the caption into Latvian.
In her testimony, Svetlana Nikolaeva completely refuted the charges. She categorically denied asking Sidorov to collect any information about individuals held in Riga Prison for transmission to Russian authorities. The defendant also informed the court that she voluntarily deleted all her social media and messaging accounts, including Telegram, in December 2023 to protect herself from negative media exposure.
Nikolaeva drew the court's attention to Dmitry Mareev as the prosecution's key witness and expressed bewilderment why he himself was not being held accountable for collecting the data he was accused of.
During the trial, significant inconsistencies were discovered in the testimony of Mareev and Sidorov. The prosecution witness's claims about transmitting information via Telegram are not supported by timestamps in the audio recordings. Furthermore, Mareev was unable to provide key phone numbers and names directly relevant to the case.
Nikolaeva also denied accusations of mercenary motives, emphasizing that she had not received any monetary compensation for any information, and pointed out technical inconsistencies in the case materials.
Following the hearing, Judge Leitane adjourned to determine a preventive measure. Both defendants will remain in pretrial detention until the next hearing, scheduled for December 2, 2025. Human rights organizations have expressed serious concerns about the rights of the defendants and the fairness of the trial in this case.