‘I don’t feel I’ve sinned’ Latvian parliament greenlights arrest of lawmaker suspected of spying for Russia

On June 10, the Latvian parliament voted to strip opposition lawmaker Jānis Ādamsons of his legal immunity, clearing the way for his arrest on suspicion of spying for Russia. The politician reportedly stands accused of gathering classified information and passing it to a foreign state. Ādamsons, who served as Latvia’s interior minister in the 1990s, is currently a member of the Social Democratic Party “Harmony,” which enjoys the support of Latvia’s Russian-speaking population. Though Ādamsons denies any wrongdoing, government officials maintain that there is “serious evidence” to support the allegations against him. In turn, opposition forces have expressed concerns that Ādamsons is being persecuted due to his outspoken criticism of the Latvian security forces.

On June 9, the Latvian authorities opened a criminal case against Jānis Ādamsons, an opposition lawmaker from the Social Democratic Party “Harmony.” That same day, the Prosecutor General’s Office requested that the Saeima, the country’s parliament, vote on his arrest. On June 10, the parliament’s Committee on Mandates and Ethics reviewed the evidence against Ādamsons behind closed doors, after which the issue of his arrest was put to a general vote. In the end, the lawmaker was deprived of his parliamentary immunity by a majority vote. Immediately afterward, investigators carried out searches of the suspect’s office and his home. 

Ādamsons is a member of the Saeima’s defense, internal affairs, and corruption prevention committees. That said, according to media reports, he doesn’t have access to state secrets. In an interview, the lawmaker denied any wrongdoing, saying that he found out about the accusations against him from journalists and didn’t know the nature of the charges. “The mafia structures within our government have retaliated. I don’t feel I’ve sinned,” he underscored.

Citing information from the Prosecutor General’s Office, the head of the parliamentary commission on mandates, lawmaker Janīna Kursīte-Pakule, said that Ādamsons is suspected of espionage (under Latvian Criminal Code article 85, section 1). According to Latvia’s public broadcaster, Latvijas Televīzija, the case includes 43 “episodes” in total. The investigation alleges that Ādamsons passed information to Russia over the past four years, including information about Latvia’s budget and military procurement.

The Latvian State Security Service promised to disclose further details about the case after the completion of “urgent procedural actions.” The Prosecutor General’s Office has thus far declined to comment on the case.

Serious evidence

“There’s serious evidence proving the validity of the suspicions of spying for Russia [against Ādamsons],” said the head of Saeima’s National Security Committee, Māris Kučinskis. Latvian Prime Minister Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš also made similar statements.

Meanwhile, Harmony party Chairman Jānis Urbanovičs demanded a swift and open investigation into Ādamsons's case, as well as an explanation as to why the authorities didn’t intervene to stop the lawmaker’s actions immediately and instead kept him under surveillance for four years, while his alleged criminal acts piled up.

“We, as a party, have the right to make sure that one of the representatives of the opposition isn’t being punished for his defiant criticism of the security forces, to which he has a right as a deputy,” Urbanovičs said in a statement.

The Latvian Russian Union party also voiced support for Ādamsons, demanding an end to the “witch hunt” and expressing concern about the fact that trials for espionage are conducted behind closed doors.

‘A semi-mafia state’

Jānis Ādamsons began his political career in the 1990s, upon returning to Latvia after serving in the Soviet Union’s Border Troops Naval Service in the Far East. It was there that he earned the nickname “Captain Shark,” which he says was given to him by Japanese sailors. Ādamsons has been a member of the Riga City Council, as well as several convocations of the Saeima, and he served as Latvia’s interior minister in 1994–1995.

The Latvian Prosecutor General’s Office launched a probe against Ādamsons in 1998 in connection with his time serving in the Soviet Border Troops, which were subordinate to the KGB. In turn, two years later, a Latvian court barred Ādamsons from running for parliament. Ādamsons successfully challenged the ruling at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in 2006. The European court recognized the ban as a violation of the politician’s rights and ordered Latvia to pay Ādamsons 10,000 euros in compensation (that’s about $12,000 by today’s exchange rate).

In 2000, Ādamsons, who was assisting a parliamentary commission with an investigation into a major child pornography ring, announced in the Saeima that several senior officials — including then-Prime Minister Andris Šķēle — may be linked to the paedophilia scandal. Although the accusations were deemed unfounded, Šķēle resigned from office. Ādamsons was fined for abuse of power and nearly lost his legal immunity. 

As a Harmony party lawmaker, Ādamsons has referred to Latvia a “semi-mafia state,” criticized the country’s cooperation with the United States, and denounced the government’s plans to make Latvian the language of instruction in schools as a “provocation” and an alleged attempt to destabilize the country. 

In a 2015 interview with Rubaltic.ru, Ādamsons voiced his opinion on Russia’s annexation of the Crimean Peninsula, claiming Moscow saved Europe from all-out war. “Ten to twelve years of sluggish civil war awaits Ukraine and, in this case, I can only be glad that Crimea left Ukraine — in the event that it [Crimea] had remained [part of Ukraine], then a full-scale war would have flared up across Europe a long time ago,” the lawmaker said at the time. “I applaud and commend the entire Russian leadership for the fact that they didn’t allow a full-scale war to be unleashed in Europe.”