The Kurzeme District Court in Latvia has sentenced the editor-in-chief of the Kremlin propaganda portal “Sputnik Latvia”, a Latvian citizen, Valentin Rozhentsov, to two years in prison for violating European Union sanctions.
This was reported by the Latvian newspaper Delfi. The journalists noted that the verdict of the first instance court can still be appealed in the Riga District Court. The prosecutor is satisfied with the verdict, as it coincides with the punishment she requested during the court debates.
According to media workers, Rozhentsov wrote a statement that he would not participate in the trial, so when the verdict was announced, the court changed the notification of a change of residence to taking him into custody as a preventive measure. If the police fail to deliver the accused to prison, he will be put on the wanted list. The prosecutor's office does not know Rozhentsov's whereabouts.
In order to circumvent and violate EU sanctions and receive remuneration for the performance of his work duties related to ensuring the operation of information resources belonging to the Russian state propaganda agency “Russia Today”, Rozhentsov concluded several service agreements with the media holding.
Journalists found out that the agreements stipulated that Rozhentsov, on behalf of the customer, prepare materials on economic, cultural and social topics related to Latvian immigrants and their descendants in Russia. It is also stated that Rozhentsov will provide services related to interactive and editorial activities, selection and placement of text and multimedia materials on the customer's websites.
“From October 20, 2016 to December 23, 2019, Rozhentsov continued to perform the functions of editor-in-chief of the Sputnik Latvia project, an information resource owned by Rossiya Segodnya, and provided services in preparing publications, selecting materials and placing them on Sputnik websites”, — the report says.
Thus, during this period, Rozhentsov provided Rossiya Segodnya with information content production services and ensured that the media holding, whose CEO is Dmitry Kiselyov (who is under sanctions), was able to implement the agency's goals of strengthening Russia's national interests in the information space.
“Rozhentsov, continuing to perform his duties, preparing and publishing materials for resources owned by Rossiya Segodnya, indirectly provided economic resources to Kiselyov and violated EU sanctions for selfish motives,” — concluded the Latvian prosecutor's office.