MOSCOW, May 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russia is joining as a third party in hearings being held by the European Court of Human Rights over an appeal filed by a World War II veteran against Latvia, the presidential press office said Sunday.
Vassily Kononov, a Russian World War II partisan, was convicted by Latvian authorities of war crimes for ordering the killing of several Nazi collaborators in 1944 when Latvia was occupied by German troops. Kononov was sentenced to 20 months of imprisonment but was freed as he had served his term in pre-trial detention.
Russia's envoy to the European Court of Human Rights Pavel Laptev sent a relevant memorandum to the court saying Russia was joining the Kononov versus Latvia case as a third party.
Laptev also raised the issue of considering the case as a matter of priority, taking into account Kononov's age.
Kononov was born in 1923 and currently lives in Riga, the capital of Latvia.
