The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg will on Monday announce the ruling of its Grand Chamber on the former Soviet partisan case involving a WWII veteran accused of killing villagers during the war.
Vasily Kononov, who led a group of resistance fighters against Nazi Germany in the Baltic state during the Second World War, was convicted by Latvian authorities of ordering the killing of nine villagers in 1944. He admitted to the killings, but said the dead were Nazi collaborators who were caught in crossfire.
Kononov was arrested in 1998 and held for two years in custody, but Latvia's charges against him were overturned by the European Court of Human Rights in 2008. After his release, Kononov received Russian citizenship.
In 2004, he appealed to the Strasbourg Court. The court in 2008 ruled that Latvian authorities violated the European Convention on Human Rights prescribing that "no person may be punished for an act that was not a criminal offense at the time of its commission".
The Strasbourg Court ordered 30,000 euros ($38,000) in compensation to the former partisan. Latvia's government then appealed the ruling, and the Grand Chamber is to announce its decision on Monday.
WWII continues to be a contentious issue in Russia's relations with both Estonia and Latvia over the Baltic states' perceived glorification of Nazi collaborators and their perception of Russia being an occupying country after the war.
STRASBOURG, May 17 (RIA Novosti)
