Vladimir Ilyich Linderman (, , pseudonym Abel (''А́бель''); born November 3, 1958) is a

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

n and

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n publicist, political dissident of

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

Short biography
origin, and a member of Russia's unregistered

National Bolshevik Party The National Bolshevik Party (, NBP) operated from 1993 to 2007 as a Russian political party with a political program of National Bolshevism. The NBP became a prominent member of The Other Russia (coalition), The Other Russia coalition of oppos ...

since 1997. Linderman is a non-citizen of Latvia.

Biography

In 1991, Linderman worked in the Russian editorial office of the

Atmoda ''Atmoda'' ('Awakening' in Latvian) was a weekly newspaper in Latvian SSR and Latvia issued from December 1988 to April 1992. It was published by the Popular Front of Latvia (PFL) and was the first independent, opposition paper in the Latvian SS ...

newspaper. In 1998 he was the leader of the Latvian branch of the

(NBP). From 2002, Linderman was a member of the Central Committee of the NBP. In November 2002, he went to

Saratov Saratov ( , ; , ) is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Saratov Oblast, Russia, and a major port on the Volga River. Saratov had a population of 901,361, making it the List of cities and tow ...

to take part in the trial of the NBP founder

Eduard Limonov Eduard Veniaminovich Limonov (né Savenko; , ; 22 February 1943 – 17 March 2020) was a Russians, Russian writer, poet, publicist, political dissident and politician. He emigrated from the Soviet Union in 1974, but returned to Russia in 1991 ...

as a defence witness. On September 24, 2003, Linderman was arrested by the

Federal Security Service The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation �СБ, ФСБ России (FSB) is the principal security agency of Russia and the main successor agency to the Soviet Union's KGB; its immediate predecessor was the Federal Counterin ...

(FSS) in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

and spent 19 days in Lefortovo Prison. Latvia requested Russia to extradite him, but Russia refused, citing fears of political persecution. On June 21, 2006, Linderman was arrested again, but during his convoying to Latvia Linderman escaped and remained in hiding for two more years. In 2008, Linderman was finally found and on March 20 extradited to Latvia, where he was accused of storing explosives, calling to overthrow the political system and planning to assassinate the

President of Latvia The president of Latvia ( ) is head of state and commander-in-chief of the Latvian National Armed Forces, National Armed Forces of the Latvia, Republic of Latvia. The term of this office is four years. Before 1999, it was three years. The presi ...

Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga (; born 1 December 1937) is a Latvian politician who served as the sixth president of Latvia from 1999 to 2007. She is the first and to date only woman to hold the post and the most recent to be re-elected for a second ter ...

. On October 6, 2008, Linderman was given a one-year prison sentence suspended for twelve months for the possession of a

TNT Troponin T (shortened TnT or TropT) is a part of the troponin complex, which are proteins integral to the contraction of skeletal and heart muscles. They are expressed in skeletal and cardiac myocytes. Troponin T binds to tropomyosin and helps ...

block with a detonator, but was cleared on the charges of inciting to overthrow the government due to lack of evidence. On October 26, 2008, he attempted to enter

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

from

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

, but was detained at the

Tallinn Passenger Port The Old City Harbour () is the main passenger harbour in Tallinn, Estonia. Regular lines serve routes to Helsinki (Finland) and Stockholm (Sweden) Overview Old City Harbour is one of the five ports within the state-owned company Port of Tallinn ...

, where Linderman was informed he is banned from entering the country and sent back to Finland. In 2009, Linderman became the founder and leader of the

n political party

The 13 January Movement For the Native Language! (Russian language, Russian: ''За родной язык!''; Latvian language, Latvian: ''Par dzimto valodu!'') was a political party in Latvia. The party was led by Vladimir Linderman. History In 2009, Latvian National ...

. In 2011, he was the co-founder of an

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

called "Mother Tongue" that initiated the unsuccessful constitutional referendum for making Russian a second state language in Latvia. On July 16, 2012, Linderman renamed The 13 January Movement to

For the Native Language! For the Native Language! (Russian: ''За родной язык!''; Latvian: ''Par dzimto valodu!'') was a political party in Latvia. The party was led by Vladimir Linderman. History In 2009, Latvian national-bolsheviks established the politic ...

and registered it as a political party. Soon after, he called his supporters to boycott

SEB banka SEB banka (formerly ''Latvijas Unibanka'', then ''SEB Latvijas Unibanka'') is one of the largest banks in Latvia and a part of the Swedish SEB Group. Nowadays, its main rivals in the Latvian banking market are Swedbank, Luminor and Citadele bank ...

for refusing to open a bank account for the party. In 2013, Linderman became the unofficial leader of a newly founded organization “Let’s Protect Our Children” that along with another organization called "Kin" began collecting signatures to initiate a referendum against "

gay propaganda "Gay agenda" or "homosexual agenda" is a pejorative term for the normalization of non-heterosexual sexual orientations. The term has been used to disparage advocacy for LGBTQ rights, rooted in the belief that LGBTQ activists seek to Homosexual r ...

". In 2014, he and several other pro-Russian activists appeared in the

Victory Day Victory Day is a commonly used name for public holidays in various countries, where it commemorates a nation's triumph over a hostile force in a war or the liberation of a country from hostile occupation. In many cases, multiple countries may ob ...

celebration at the

Monument to the Liberators of Soviet Latvia and Riga from the German Fascist Invaders The Monument to the Liberators of Soviet Latvia and Riga from the German Fascist Invaders, unofficially known simply as the Victory Monument, was a memorial complex in Victory Park (Riga), Victory Park, Pārdaugava, Riga, Latvia, erected in 1985 ...

with flags of Donetsk People's Republic and expressed their support for the pro-Russian separatists. On May 8, 2018, Linderman was arrested by the Security Police for a suspected incitement of national, ethnic and racial hatred, performing activities aimed against Latvia's independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, state power and government structure, as well as organizing mass riots in a March 31 speech he gave at the "All-Latvian Parents Gathering" organized by the

Latvian Russian Union The Latvian Russian Union (LRU, , ) (LKS) is a political party in Latvia supported mainly by ethnic Russians and other Russian-speaking minorities. The co-chairpersons of the Latvian Russian Union were Miroslavs Mitrofanovs and Tatjana Ždanoka ...

. On May 10 Linderman was kept in custody, but finally released on May 22.

References

External links

Articles by Vladimir Linderman
{{DEFAULTSORT:Linderman, Vladimir National Bolshevik Party politicians 21st-century Latvian politicians 21st-century Russian politicians 1958 births Politicians from Riga Foreign nationals imprisoned in Russia Russian prisoners and detainees Russian political writers Jewish Russian politicians Latvian Jews Living people Russian dissidents Russian nationalists National Bolsheviks