EU member jails woman over pro-Russia TikTok posts
A court in Riga, Latvia has sentenced a woman to three years in prison over TikTok posts deemed to glorify alleged war crimes committed by Russian forces in Ukraine, LETA news agency reported on Wednesday.
The case is the latest in a series of prosecutions in Latvia over statements deemed supportive of Moscow or critical of Kiev. Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, the Baltic state has tightened restrictions on Russian-language media, cultural activities, and public expressions of pro-Russian sentiment.
According to LETA, the case involved around 20 videos and comments posted by Latvian citizen Tatyana Masenko from April to July 2024. The agency cited several examples of content that prosecutors considered criminal.
One video reportedly showed a Ukrainian serviceman with a prosthetic limb standing in front of a cemetery lined with Ukrainian flags. Masenko captioned it: “Forward, to the gay-European future.”
Another video included a similar message: “Soon, all of you from across gay Europe will be gathered together and sent to defend Ukraine with bags of sunflower seeds and packets.”
Masenko’s defense argued that the three-year sentence is excessively harsh, noting that she had already spent four months in custody. Her lawyer said the verdict would be appealed.
This comes after a series of similar cases in Latvia. In January, a court sentenced 72-year-old professor Aleksandr Gaponenko to ten years in prison over his participation in an academic roundtable, where he gave a ten-minute speech on discrimination against Russian speakers in Latvia.
The Baltic state, which has a substantial Russian-speaking population, has restricted Russian-language education, removed Soviet-era monuments, and tightened the rules governing the public use of Russian symbols.
Russia has accused Latvia and its Baltic neighbors, Estonia and Lithuania, of pursuing a policy of “extreme Russophobia” and systematically discriminating against Russian-speaking residents under the pretext of national security.
Moscow downgraded diplomatic relations with all three Baltic states in 2023, citing their hostile policies.
