Latvian court sentenced a man to prison for tearing down the Ukrainian flag.

The man was sentenced to four years and six months in prison for inciting hatred on national grounds and other offenses. In the summer of 2022, in Daugavpils, he tore down the Ukrainian flag from a building with a flagpole. This was reported by 'Glavkom' citing Delfi.

In addition to the flag incident, the man committed theft, hooliganism with property damage, inflicted bodily harm, and praised and justified war crimes.

In January 2023, the accused, while in a state of alcohol intoxication, hit shelves with a tripod in one of the stores in Daugavpils. In the summer of that year, also inebriated, he stabbed his acquaintance in the neck with a knife.

From May to June 2024, the man posted a dozen videos on TikTok, in which he stated in Russian that he justifies and glorifies Russia's war crimes in Ukraine.

It should be noted that he has already been convicted seven times for various crimes.

'Glavkom' reported that in November 2022, the mayor of Daugavpils Andrejs Elksniņš made strange statements about Ukraine, accusing Ukraine itself of Russia's attack and calling the Russian-occupied Crimea 'part of the Russian Federation.'

Following this, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry commented on these statements, emphasizing that 'the statements of this marginal figure do not reflect the official position of friendly Latvia.'