Putin Sends Greetings to War Crime Convict
Russian President Vladimir V. Putin issued New Year’s greetings to a former pro-Soviet partisan convicted in Latvia of killing civilians during World War II.
Vassily Kononov, 80, was convicted last year of war crimes for ordering the killing of nine civilians, including a pregnant woman, in 1944 when Latvia was occupied by Nazi troops. He was a leader of a small band of partisans fighting the Nazis.
Kononov was sentenced to 20 months’ imprisonment but was freed because he had served that much time in pretrial detention.
Many Russians consider Kononov a legitimate war hero, and Moscow criticized the trial as a witch hunt targeting an ailing, elderly man.
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