Latvian Blogger Dmitry Mataev Leaves Country After Politically Motivated Imprisonment

Latvian blogger Dmitry Mataev, having served a one-year prison sentence on politically charged accusations, has left Latvia for a safer location. Mataev was released from custody pending the appeal of his case. However, remaining in Latvia posed a risk to his safety.

According to baltija.eu, the blogger is now in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, along with his Latvian-born wife and their three children.

Mataev stated that he has no intention of returning to Latvia, a country where expressing critical opinions on social media can lead to severe penalties, including imprisonment. He sees no future for himself there.

The Mataev family has chosen Belarus as a temporary refuge, with the ultimate goal of relocating to the Russian Federation.

Mataev served his prison term and was released in April 2025. The criminal case against him was initiated by Latvia’s State Security Service on March 26, 2024. The Riga City Court found him guilty of «justifying Russia’s war crimes» and sentenced him to one year in prison, including time already served during the investigation. Notably, the prosecutor had initially sought a four-year sentence on one charge and an additional two and a half years on another.

The indictment stated that between October 5, 2023, and March 18, 2024, Mataev posted eight TikTok videos in Russian that allegedly «glorified and justified crimes against peace and war crimes committed by the Russian armed forces in Ukraine». The videos were also accused of «inciting ethnic hatred and hostility toward Latvians».

Among the content deemed criminal was Mataev’s criticism of Latvian authorities for displaying an "anti-war" poster on the facade of the Museum of the History of Medicine, opposite the Russian Embassy in Riga. Mataev argued that the poster insulted Russian citizens, ethnic Russians worldwide, and Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to Latvian authorities, criticizing such a poster was unacceptable.

Additionally, the court ruled that Mataev’s disparaging remarks about pro-Ukrainian installations in Latvia—which he called "garbage, a dump, and a landfill"—constituted a criminal offense.

In his videos, Mataev openly condemned government policies and the annual march of Waffen-SS legionnaires. He also focused on the contentious issue of preserving Russian-language education in Latvia, a sensitive topic for the country’s Russian-speaking minority. Furthermore, he highlighted the deteriorating infrastructure in central Riga, aiming to draw attention to the city’s decline.

Human rights advocates argue that accusations of «justifying crimes» are increasingly used as a tool to pressure those advocating for the cultural and linguistic rights of Russian-speaking Latvians—a stance at odds with the government’s hardline anti-Russian policies.

Although Mataev’s pre-trial detention was counted toward his sentence, the prosecutor has appealed the verdict. The case will now be reviewed by the Riga District Court, but not until March 25, 2026.

There is a possibility that the initial ruling could be overturned, resulting in a harsher prison term—as originally demanded by the prosecution. To avoid further legal jeopardy, the Mataev family chose to leave Latvia, where democracy and freedom of speech have long been reduced to hollow concepts, mirroring the deteriorating standards seen in Ukraine.