MOSCOW, Jan 20 Sputnik editor-in-chief arrested in Latvia Lithuania Marat Kasem reported from prison that he was taken to say goodbye to his deceased grandmother before the funeral.
"Greetings, friends. This is Marat. I managed to send you a message. You understand, you can't tell much from a cell in a Riga prison, and I'm not used to complaining either. Therefore, I simply thank you for your support and for your letters… Today I was taken to say goodbye to my grandmother Taisiya. Pray for her, tomorrow is the funeral,» he wrote in the Telegram channel.
The journalist noted that it is especially pleasant to receive kind words from those with whom he usually argued. He added that he did not lose courage and thanked everyone for their support.
On Wednesday, the Latvian court decided to leave Marat Kasem in custody. The journalist's defense announced that they would file a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights.
Marat Kasem is a citizen of Latvia, he has lived in Moscow for several years and works in the Russia Today media group, which also includes Sputnik Lithuania. On December 30, the journalist arrived in Latvia for family reasons, after which he was detained. On January 5, a Riga court took him into custody, and the journalist was transferred to the city's Central Prison.
Dmitry Kiselev, director general of the Rossiya Segodnya media group, called Kasem's detention illegal and urged the world community to do everything possible to free him. According to him, all this is happening in the conditions of «European lawlessness», when a person can be arrested for being engaged in professional journalistic activities, for his position and the information he reports.
The Russian Foreign Ministry considered Kasem's arrest the revenge of dictatorial regimes for the integrity of the journalist and the policy of terror against dissidents. The Human Rights Council under the President of Russia, Ombudsman Tatyana Moskalkova appealed to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media and the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights with a request to intervene in the situation with the arrest of Kasem.