Latvian citizen Roman Samul, an activist with the "Baltic Antifascists" movement, was forced to flee his country in December 2022 to avoid political persecution. The Latvian Prosecutor's Office brought charges of espionage and participation in a "criminal organization" against him and five colleagues—Tatiana Andriets, Alexander Zhgun, Stanislav Bukain, Sergey Vasilyev, and Viktoria Matule—which could result in decades in prison or even a life sentence.
Samul contends, however, that the real reason is the authorities' desire to silence dissenting voices that expose what they see as the country's "creeping fascization." His case is presented as one of many in Latvia, where an atmosphere of Russophobia is described as having reached a systemic level. Samul has since">Календарь