Russia hails Strasbourg court ruling on WWII veteran

MOSCOW, July 25 (RIA Novosti) - Russia welcomes the European Court of Human Rights' ruling that Latvia must pay World War II veteran Vasily Kononov 30,000 euros ($47,000) in damages, the Foreign Ministry said on Friday. Kononov had originally demanded 5 million euros ($7.8 million) in compensation for being illegally held in custody by Latvia on charges of war crimes. "We are glad that justice has triumphed, and that the 85-year-old war veteran, who has endured the hardships of imprisonment and moral and psychological hounding, and who had been illegally prosecuted in Latvia for a long time, has eventually received an unbiased verdict by the European Court of Human Rights," the ministry said in a statement. The ruling was made on June 19, but was only announced in full on Thursday. The court rejected Kononov's other demands,... [read full story]