Igors Šiškins

Šiškins was born in Rēzekne to a Russian father and Latvian mother, but calls himself Latvian because his parents separated when he was young.[1] In 1975 he graduated from the Professional Builders Technical High School No. 19.[2] During the Soviet era Šiškins worked as a driver, locksmith, and stonecutter.[1]

In the early 1990s Šiškins was involved in the ultra-nationalist Pērkonkrusts movement, which attempted to follow the principles of the pre-World War II movement. Šiškins was linked to the bombing of the Victory Memorial to Soviet Army on 5–6 June 1997. The following year Šiškins sent a letter to the newspaper Diena saying that "as a member of the Latvian people, only opposition to the Latvian regime and ethnic nationalism is acceptable...The will of the people is the will of God."[3]

In January 1998 the Latvian Constitutional Protection Bureau began a search for Šiškins and other members of Pērkonkrusts, and Šiškins was arrested in April of that year.[4] In 2000 he was sentenced to two years in prison[5], but along with other Pērkonkrusts members was released early, in 2001, after the Supreme Court of Latvia reduced the sentence as ordered by the Riga Regional Court.[6] The activity of Pērkonkrusts was banned in 2006.[7]

In the 2006 Latvian parliamentary elections Šiškins ran on the Homeland Union (also Fatherland Union, Tēvzemes savienība) ticket but the party received only 0.1% of the vote and he was not elected.[8] In 2007, he founded the "Gustavs Celmiņš Centre" (GCC) association, intended to carry on the traditions of Pērkonkrusts.[9] The group was dissolved by the Riga Regional Court in December 2014.[10][11]

In 2010, Šiškins was one of the two people detained at a halted march commemorating the liberation of Riga from the Soviets on July 1, 1941, and the arrival of Nazi troops.[12]

In 2012 Šiškins invited representatives from ultra-right movements in Ukraine, Russia, Germany and Poland to participate in the 16 March Remembrance day of the Latvian legionnaires.[13] In October Šiškins was arrested, as police charged that he had attempted to purchase explosives.[14][15]