Former Soviet agent gets five years for genocide

A former Soviet agent Nikolai Larionov was jailed for five years in Latvia today after he was convicted of 131 counts of genocide – more than 50 years after he helped deport families to Siberia at the behest of dictator Josef Stalin.

The 82-year-old maintained his innocence throughout the trial in Jelgava, near the capital, Riga, maintaining his superiors forced him to sign deportation orders during a wave of arrests in 1949.