Latvian political prisoner Svetlana Nikolaeva remains in custody for two more months

A Latvian court has left in custody Svetlana Nikolaeva, the mother of Aleksandrs Dubjago, the student who unfurled the Russian flag near the Monument to the Liberators of Riga on May 9, 2022. The court rejected the appeal and decided to extend her detention in Riga's Ilgucieme Women's Prison for another two months. Nikolaeva is accused of espionage for giving money for a lawyer to another political prisoner, her classmate Sergei Sidorov, at the request of his sister.

Svetlana herself is suspected of having cancer, but has not yet received proper medical care.

Human rights activists are sure that her arrest is a political order and a violation of human rights. The espionage charges raise fears that they are being used to suppress dissent and intimidate those who do not support Latvia's official position towards Russia.