Strasbourg court orders Latvia to compensate WWII veteran

MOSCOW, July 24 (RIA Novosti) - The European Court of Human Rights has ordered Latvia to pay World War II veteran Vasily Kononov 30,000 euros ($47,000) in damages, the court said on Thursday. Kononov, 85, had originally demanded 5 million euros ($7.8 million) in compensation for being illegally held in custody by Latvia on charges of war crimes. The ruling was made on June 19, but was only announced in full on Thursday. The court rejected Kononov's other demands, which included moral damages and compensation for the apartment and plot of land he had been forced to sell in order to pay for court expenses and medical treatment. Kononov, 84, who led a group of resistance fighters in the Baltic state during WWII, was convicted by Latvian authorities of ordering the killing of nine villagers in 1944, with some reports saying the... [read full story]