Case ready against Russian extremists

RIGA - Latvian prosecutors have completed preparations for the trial of
members of a Soviet revivalist group who law enforcement authorities
say threatened to blow up one of Riga's most highly-prized church
towers last November.

Three of the accused, who are charged with terrorism and entering
Latvia illegally, face a minimum of 15 years in jail if convicted,
even though a hand grenade they are thought to have brandished turned
out to be fake. If found guilty, the authorities may choose to deport
the three to their native Russia rather than see them become a symbol
of anti-Latvian resistance.

Prosecution documents were sent to the courts on Jan. 5, according to
Riga's chief prosecutor Janis Drobisevskis. A fourth man, Vladimir
Moskovtsev, who is a Latvian citizen, is charged with assisting the
border crossing.

The accused are likely to be represented by lawyers provided by the
state, said Drobisevskis. The Russian Embassy has so far not
responded to a request for a lawyer made by Moskovtsev.

Moskovtsev refused to sign a protocol saying he had been given access
to prosecution materials, but all the men have in fact had such
access, said Drobisevskis.

Moskovtsev has been on hunger strike since Dec. 7, protesting his
detention. He currently "feels well," and is receiving medical
checks, said Irma Belte of the prison service, but will be
transferred to hospital if his health declines.

A spokeswoman for security police chief Janis Reiniks confirmed that
the grenade was a homemade fake, containing no explosive material.
This will not reduce the likelihood of a conviction for terrorism,
said Dzintra Subrovska, spokeswoman for the prosecutor general's
office. Under Latvian law threatening a terrorist attack is as
serious as actually carrying out such an attack.

The charges relate to events on Nov. 17, the day before Latvia's
Independence Day. Three men draped make-shift versions of the Soviet
flag from the tower of St. Peter's church in Riga's Old Town and
yelled their demands through the morning mist.

Those demands included the release from prison of four Russians
arrested three days earlier in Daugavpils after jumping from a moving
train passing through Latvia en route from St. Petersburg to
Kaliningrad, and the release of four members of the organization's
Latvia wing who were arrested as security concerns increased in the
run-up to Independence Day commemorations.

They also shouted their opposition to plans for Latvia to join NATO,
and their support for Vasiljs Kononovs, convicted earlier last year
of committing atrocities as a Soviet partisan during World War II.

A successful conviction would demonstrate that the Latvian
authorities do not tolerate such crimes, said Nils Muiznieks,
director of the Center for Human Rights and Ethnic Studies in Riga.

Due to a lack of regulations, the decision on whether to deport the
three following a conviction would be a political one, he added.
Failure to deport, he said, would increase the National Bolsheviks'
popularity.

"Why should Latvia's prison system be used to make martyrs out of
three kids? Depending on how quickly the trial happens, if they're
tried in six months, say, this will serve the cause of deterrence.
These guys don't have to sit in jail for 10 years to send a strong
message."

Following the St. Peter's incident Muiznieks described the National
Bolsheviks as "postmodern punks" who engage in "political theater."