Ex-MP Adamsons sentenced to 8 years and 2 months in prison for spying for Russia

RIGA - Riga Regional Court on Friday found former MP Janis Adamsons guilty of spying for Russia and sentenced him to eight years and two months in prison and two years under probation supervision.

The regional court's ruling can still be appealed to the Supreme Court.

In November 2023, the first-instance court found Adamsons guilty of espionage and handed him a jail sentence of eight years and six months and two years under probation supervision.

The appeals court on Friday partly overruled the Riga City Court's verdict that found Adamsons guilty of small-scale fraud and shortened his prison sentence by four months.

The court upheld the bail measures imposed on Adamsons - notification of change of residence, a ban on leaving the country and bail - until the judgment enters into force. If the judgment stands, the bail of EUR 30,000 will be returned to the bailor, Ginta Usele-Adamsons.

The court of first instance convicted Adamsons on four counts, including acquiring someone else's property by deceit, acquisition and possession of ammunition without a relevant permit, and sentenced him to eight years and six months in prison and two years of probational supervision.

Gennady Silonov, a Russian citizen and former KGB agent also charged in the case, was convicted of espionage and sentenced to seven years and six months in prison with two years of probational supervision.

Adamsons was charged under three sections of the Criminal Law - espionage, small-scale fraud and acquisition and possession of ammunition without a permit, as well as unlawful compensation of his transport expenses.

According to the prosecution, Adamsons provided information to Russia for four years leading up to his arrest. This included publicly available documents - various amendments to laws, information on army purchases and budgets - as well as information on Latvia's eastern border, Latvia's official position on Nord Stream 2, and others.

Adamsons categorically denied spying for the Russian Federal Security Service, although he admitted that he knew Silonov. The other defendant, Silonov, also denies spying the Russian Federal Security Service.

According to documents in the case, Adamsons was receiving classified information from former KGB investigator Andris Strautmanis and former State Security Service employee Arturs Smaukstelis. Their complicity has not been proven; however, Strautmanis was charged in another criminal case, while Smaukstelis agreed to a suspended prison sentence for divulging classified information.

As reported, Adamsons was detained in June 2021 on suspicion of spying for Russia, and Riga City Vidzeme District Court ruled to remand him in custody. In January 2022, he was released on EUR 30,000 bail.

In December 2021, Saeima stripped MP Adamsons of his parliamentary immunity.

As an MP, Adamsons was a member of the Defense, Internal Affairs and Corruption Prevention Committee, Inquiry Committee, and the Baltic Affairs Subcommittee. Although he did not have a security clearance, Adamsons was allowed to attend meetings of Saeima Defense, Internal Affairs and Corruption Prevention Committee.