• Court sentenced a man for incitement to ethnic hatred

Yesterday, the Riga City Court of Kurzeme District sentenced a man to one year of suspended imprisonment for incitement to ethnic hatred. In March 2014 the sentenced man has published statements at facebook.com calling to organise "Maidan" in Latvia and calling Russian residents to start war against ethnic Latvians in Latvia and later against European Union and made other hateful statements towards ethnic Latvians. Latvijas Avize

• Newspapers report about a congress of a political party National Union
• Report on Development of Young Guards stresses Young Guards as a tool for consolidation of the society

Newspapers report about a congress of a political party National Union (NU). One of the party’s leaders Raivis Dzintars stated that the aim of the party is to make the state ethnically Latvian and fair. This aim can be achieved only when the NU becomes the most popular party in Latvia and receives at least 30 -35 mandates in the Parliament, said R. Dzintars. He also stressed that the NU supports traditional family values and criticized the fact that coming out with the statement about belonging to non-traditional sexual orientation is considered as bravery, while honouring of Latvian (Waffen SS) legionnaires on 16 March is condemned. Other leader of the party and Speaker of the Saeima Inara Murniece stressed the necessity to strengthen Latvia’s security. These could be achieved by special legal provisions, which, for instance, would allow banning organisations engaged in activities incompatible with the aims of the state’s existence. As measures to counter Russia’s propaganda in Latvia, I. Murniece proposed to forbid the local TV operators to place advertisement in re-broadcasted Russia’s channels and to force the operators to include in the cheapest TV package only local and EU channels, but Russia’s channels in the more expensive package. Member of the party, MP Edvins Snore stated that there is no sense to strengthen Latvian defence if among its residents there is a large community who he alleges would “shoot in the back” of Latvian defenders in case of a conflict. A. Snore believes that all the previous attempts to integrate this community have failed and, therefore, there are only two choices left – whether to give up and to form two-community state or to help the residents disloyal towards the state to be repatriated to their ethnic motherland.  Vesti Segodnya, Latvijas Avize, Diena

The government has approved the Report on Development of Young Guards for 2014-2024. Consolidation of the society is stressed as one of the Young Guards’ main functions. The MP and military expert Karlis Kreslins says that different patriotic activities and discovering history are shaping the state consciousness of the young people.  According to a director of the Recruitment and Young Guards Centre, the organisation is highly popular also in Latgale  - region densely populated by ethnic minorities. Latvijas Avize

• Head of the Saeima’s Education, Science and Culture Committee Janis Vucans: language issues should not be boosted

In an interview with Vesti Segodnya, the head of the Saeima Education, Science and Culture Committee Janis Vucans says that the integration and Latvian language learning are developing by themselves and it is a matter of time when success is achieved. Mr Vucans notes that he sees problems with Latvian language learning by Russian speaking students and also with the growing number of Latvian language school leavers who are less competitive due to poor Russian language skills. At the same time, Mr Vucans believes that there is no need for changes in the education programme as those will occur naturally as people see that multilingualism improves individual welfare. .

• Security Police initiated criminal proceedings concerning the justification or glorification of genocide and war crimes committed by the USSR
• Vesti Segodnya prints an article by Aleksandrs Gilmans about the results and impact of language reform in minority schools introduced in 2004
• Lutheran priest Guntis Kalme: commemoration and honouring of the Latvian Legion and legionnaires is highly important

The Security Police initiated criminal proceedings against an activist of the radical pro-Russian party “For Native Language” Illarion Girs. The proceeding have been initiated in accordance with the Article 741 of the Criminal Law criminalises public glorification, refusal, justification or gross trivialisation of genocide, crimes against humanity, crimes against peace, and war crimes, including if those were committed by the USSR or Nazi Germany. In his publication named “Civil Disobedience to the Neo Nazi Latvian Dogma”, Illarion Girs writes: “I publicly deny the probability of statements about genocide in Latvia committed by the Soviet power. Years when Latvia was part of the USSR were the best for Latvian people from the perspective of welfare and prosperity, including for ethnic Latvians, because the peak of cultural development was reached during the Soviet era. Yes, I glorify the entry and stay of Latvia as part of the USSR from the position of common interests of the majority of multiethnic Latvian nation and it was forth it.” The newspaper also indicates that the complaint about Girs’ statements was submitted by Mr Girs himself in order to challenge Latvia’s Criminal Law provisions. Vesti Segodnya

Vesti Segodnya prints an article by Aleksandrs Gilmans, activist for defence of Russian language schools about the results and impact of language reform in minority schools introduced in 2004. According to Gilmans, in order to evaluate the impact of language reform on education quality it is important to conduct a study evaluating the results of centralised examins before and after the reform and to evaluate the competitiveness of Russian school language. Gilmans says that Vladimirs Buzajevs, currently member of Latvia’s Russian Union (formerly For Human Rights in United Latvia) and him have conducted their own research which showed that there are no major changes in the exam results before and after the reform. The only noticeable drop in results occurred in 2012 after the introduction of a centralised exam in the Latvian language for both school leavers of schools with Latvian language of instruction and minority schools.  Gilmans claims that the language reform was useless and its aim was only ideological – to force Russian teachers to speak with Russian students in Latvian language. (Latvia has schools with Latvian language of instruction and schools carrying out bilingual education programmes resulting in 60%/40% (Latvia/minority language) language ratio in high schools).

Latvijas Avize interviews doctor of theology, Lutheran priest Guntis Kalme. Mr Kalme, who leads the 16 March commemoration march of the Latvian legion, believes the commemoration and honouring of the Latvian Legion and legionnaires is highly important because it shows that ethnic Latvians are patriots and warriors. Mr Kalme says that despite the fact that the Latvian legionnaires were fighting in the Nazi uniforms during the WWII they fought for Latvia’s freedom and it should be explained internationally. He claims that “one of the reasons why there is critical attitude towards the Latvian Waffen SS legionnaires is because the enemies they fought against, in the form of fifth column, continue to live in Latvia”. Mr Kalme also believes that integration in Latvia has failed and blames the “fifth column” controlled by Russia for the failure of integration.

• Vesti Segodnya reports about a lection by an expert in linguistic rights, professor Fernand de Varennes
• Saeima’s Committee conceptually supported establishment of a regional studio of the Latvian public media in Latgale

Vesti Segodnya reports about a lecture by an expert on linguistic rights, professor Fernand de Varennes. The lecture was arranged by Latvian Human Rights Committee in Riga. According to Mr de Varennes, the Baltic States, similarly to France, Greece and Turkey, do not recognize the rights of ethnic minorities in many areas, and this fact deteriorates the human rights system in Europe.  The fact that the Council of Europe has agreed with the entry of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia to the EU without ratification of the Framework Convention for Protection of National Minorities was later followed as an example by other countries, says de Varennes. He believes that, although 20 years have passed after the restoration of the Baltic States’ independence, the policy is still aimed at narrowing linguistic rights of minorities in these countries. As an example, the expert has mentioned the decrease of minority language proportion in minority schools and the ban of bilingual street signs in Latvia. He also believes that other European states have started to follow an example of the Baltic States in justifying limitation of minority rights by political and strategic objectives, as it was before the WWII. Mr de Varennes says that weakening the mechanism of minority protection leads towards the growth of separatist movements in Europe. In order to strengthen such a mechanism, Mr de Varennes proposes the transfer of the Framework Convention to the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights.

Yesterday, the Saeima’s Human Rights and Public Affairs Committee conceptually supported establishment of a regional studio of the Latvian public media in Latgale (Latvia’s Eastern region.) It is planned to locate the studio in Daugavpils or Rezekne. Two radio journalists would work there producing informative analytical broadcasts and news stories in Latvian and Russian languages. The aim of the establishment of such studio is to strengthen presence of Latvian public media in Latgale and to counter Russia’s propaganda.