A 66-year-old volunteer is on trial in Riga for providing humanitarian aid to people with disabilities and children.

The trial of 66-year-old Sergei Nikitin, a dual citizen of Germany and Russia, is ongoing at the Riga City Court. The volunteer, who has already spent eight months in custody, is charged with supporting an armed conflict. He denies the charges entirely and maintains that his mission was humanitarian in nature.

According to the prosecution, Nikitin collected and delivered aid to organizations that investigators believe support Russia's military infrastructure. However, the volunteer himself states that for years he was engaged solely in helping those in need, transporting items such as wheelchairs, crutches, walkers, hygiene products, adult diapers, and clothing, as well as food for stray animals. Much of the cargo was procured through charitable organizations and private donations in Germany.

During the hearing, it emerged that Nikitin had been unable to review the case files because they were written in Latvian without a translation. His court-appointed lawyer had not met with him to discuss his testimony. The defense requested that witnesses be called from Germany, but the court stated that arranging a video interrogation could take up to four months.

Nikitin pointed out to the court that prior to his arrest in September 2025, he had crossed the Latvian border with humanitarian aid 18 or 19 times without ever raising questions from customs officials. He also noted that the case file lacks evidence that his cargo was diverted for military purposes, and that many of the materials—such as videos featuring a grenade or reports on wounded individuals—have no connection to him and were filmed by other people.

Human rights organizations view this trial as yet another example of the politicization of the justice system in Latvia. A man who helped sick children, the elderly, and the disabled has found himself behind bars because of his charitable work—while, on the very same day, a Latvian court released a man who had inflicted three fatal knife wounds, ruling the act to be self-defense.

Human rights advocates are highlighting the absurdity of the situation: an elderly volunteer who does not speak Latvian is being denied the ability to mount an adequate defense. The failure to provide translations of case materials and the absence of a lawyer call into question the very right to a fair trial. Human rights organizations are urging the international community to take note of this case. If helping the disabled and orphans becomes a criminal offense in Latvia while killers are set free, one has to ask what kind of justice is being served. Human rights advocates will continue to monitor developments in this case.