In February of this year, it became known that Aijo was detained in the Arkhangelsk region of Russia. Referring to Dmitry Sarajevo, a spokesman for the Communist Party, Regnum reported that Aijo had been detained in the village of Yarenska, where he had come to support environmental activists who were opposed to the construction of a landfill in the village of Shiyes.
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Sarajev has claimed that Aijo has been detained by the Russian authorities on the basis of a request from Ukraine and that he is threatened with extradition to Kiev.
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Aijo himself later announced that he had been released by the Russian authorities and he had sought political asylum from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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Aijo claimed to have arrived in Russia on February 6 to tell Russian NGOs and members of the Russian City Council about the problems in the Luhansk People’s Republic.
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In February, the Latvian prosecutor’s office announced that it would ask Russia to extradite Aijo. In the prosecutor’s office, the agency LETA found out that the response to the examination of the extradition request by Russia has still not been received.
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This week, Aijo has sent photos to the Latvian media confirming the granting of temporary asylum in Russia.
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In February 2015, the Vidzeme Suburb Court of the City of Riga convicted Aijo in a criminal case in which he was accused of publicly calling for the violent overthrow of the Latvian state power.
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Aijo had to appear in court, but he had fled Latvia and announced that he was in the ranks of the self-proclaimed “Luhansk People’s Republic” army in Donbass and was participating in combat operations.
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On February 19, 2015, changes to the Criminal Law came into force, which prohibits illegal participation in armed conflict abroad. In view of the above, the State Security Service (SSD) initiated new criminal proceedings against Aijo.
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The decision of the SLS investigator to recognize Aijo as a suspect stated that Aijo, who was born in 1979 and was not a soldier of the Latvian National Armed Forces, was in eastern Ukraine, where illegally formed armed groups use firearms and other special equipment and take part in military operations in Ukraine. government-controlled forces. Such actions are in conflict with the international law binding on Latvia, the SLS emphasized.
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This is evidenced by Aijo’s speeches, photographs and media publications on the Internet. The interview with Aijo in TV3’s film “Exporters of the Revolution” is also one of the proofs.
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The Latvian Criminal Law provides for up to ten years’ imprisonment for this crime.
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The SLS has previously initiated criminal proceedings against several Latvians who joined the militants in Eastern Ukraine after the annexation of Crimea. Most were declared in search, but two men have appeared in court. One of these men, Artyom Skripnik, was sentenced to five years in prison last year for taking part in an armed conflict in eastern Ukraine.
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There is another criminal case in the Vidzeme Suburb Court of the city of Riga, in which Skripnik is accused of trying to participate illegally in the armed conflict in the east of Ukraine.
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