National Bolshevik Benes Aijo will be stripped of his Latvian citizenship
The Ministry of the Interior confirmed that such a decision was made because Aijo accepted Russian citizenship without renouncing Latvian citizenship.
It has already been reported that the administration started an examination at the end of last year in order to decide on depriving Aijo of his Latvian citizenship.
At the end of the year, he publicly released a statement and photos that he had become a Russian citizen after an eight-year process. The activist was seen in the photos holding the passport of a Russian citizen.
Aijo has been staying in Russia for several years, but is wanted in Latvia to be brought before the court.
In February 2015, the court of the Vidzeme suburb of the city of Riga declared Aijo wanted in a criminal case, in which he is accused of a public call to violently overthrow the Latvian government. Aijo was supposed to stand trial, but he had fled Latvia to the self-proclaimed “People’s Republic of Luhansk”. Later he moved to Russia.
On February 19, 2015, changes to the Criminal Law came into force, which prohibits illegal participation in armed conflicts in foreign countries. Taking into account the above, the State Security Service (VDD) started a new criminal process against Aijo, and in this case he was also declared wanted.
On the other hand, in April of this year, the Supreme Court decided not to initiate cassation proceedings in the case in which Aijo was accused of calling for the liquidation of Latvia’s national independence and territorial unity, and thus his prison sentence of two years and six months came into effect.
Aijo was once known in Latvia as a member of the neo-fascist National Bolshevik Party, then joined the so-called Donetsk Communist Party.
