The Court has declared the application in the case of Gapoņenko v. Latvia inadmissible.

The case concerned the arrest and subsequent detention of the applicant for various alleged criminal offences related to actions directed against national independence and incitement to hatred.

The Court found that there had been a “reasonable suspicion” that the applicant had committed offences and that reasoning had not been arbitrary, when his remand had been ordered. It held that it had not been unreasonable to place the applicant in remand given his attacks had been directed against the Latvian State at a time of Russian military action or control in both Georgia and Ukraine.

• Press release
• Factsheet: Hate speech