• Media expert Sergejs Kruks: non-citizens passively defend their rights because even during the Soviet era the right to vote was a very formal right
• Mayor of Riga Nils Usakovs does not have specific opinion about the Congress of Non-citizens

 Vesti Segodnya interviews media expert Sergejs Kruks. Mr Kruks believes that Latvian residents – both ethnic Latvians and Russian speakers are socially very passive because they do not have an experience from the past how to collectively defend their rights. Thus, for instance, non-citizens passively defend their rights because even during the Soviet era the right to vote was a very formal right. According to Sergejs Kruks, establishment of the Congress of Non-citizens is a logical extension of the referendum on the status of Russian language in Latvia and both the Congress and the referendum represent a reaction of the Russophone part of the society to the increasingly radical nationalistic rhetoric of the governing parties.

In an interview with Latvijas Avize, commenting the establishment of the Congress of Non-citizens the Mayor of Riga Nils Usakovs stated that he does not have specific opinion about this initiative yet. Mr Usakovs believes that the Congress future activities and aims are unclear yet and therefore it is important firstly to understand how it will develop. Regarding co-operation of the Concord Centre with other parties in the Parliament, Mr Usakovs believes that it should be built on constructive dialogue which would concentrate more on solution of social problems and exclude sensitive issues concerning history and others.

• Minister of Education and Science Vjaceslavs Dombrovskis: there are no plans to transfer all state funded kindergartens or schools to Latvian language only
• Demographer Ilmars Mezs: there will be about 100,000 immigrants in 20 years
• Discussion on denying the occupation of Latvia organised by the FHRUL

Vesti Segodnya interviews the Minister of Education and Science Vjaceslavs Dombrovskis (Reform Party). The newspaper highlights the fact that Mr Dombrovskis is an ethnic Russian minister in the Latvian government. According to the Minister, there are no plans to transfer all state funded kindergartens or schools to instruction in Latvian language only, because tax payers should have a choice in which language their children should study. The minister also believes that every language should be learned gradually because if a child or a student from the Russian speaking environment is directly placed into the Latvian speaking environment it may cause problems with acquiring the study material. Mr Dombrovskis also relates his own experience in studying in Latvian in higher education establishments

Demographer Ilmars Mezs believes that in 20 years there will be around 100,000 immigrants living in Latvia. According to Mr Mezs, even if considerable number of Latvians who emigrated return back to Latvia it will not save the country from the shortage of labour force and attracting of immigrants.  Mr Mezs believes that the majority of immigrants will be young people. Vesti Segodnya

Yesterday, on the official Occupation Day (17 June 1940) political party For Human Rights in United Latvia (FHRUL) organised a discussion on whether Latvia was occupied by the Soviet Union in 1939-1940.  The majority of speakers denied the fact of occupation believing that the Soviet Union had saved Latvia from becoming part of Germany. Yesterday the MP Nikolajs Kabanovs (Concord Centre) launched his book “Secrets of Soviet Latvia” which according to the author tells about the “golden years” of the Latvian Socialistic Soviet Republic in 1960s-80s. The MP Janina Kurstite (Unity) called the launching of such a book on the Occupation Day the humiliation for Latvian state. Diena, Neatkariga

• Parliament of Unrepresented held its first session

Vesti Segodnya reports about the first session of the Parliament of Unrepresented held on 15 June. Members of the Parliament set its main goal – to restore the non-citizens their rights of which they were deprived. The Parliament decided to form seven committees – committee on counting of damage caused to non-citizens due to deprived civil rights; committee on granting non-citizens voting rights in local elections; committee against linguistic discrimination; committee on establishing a museum of achievements of Soviet Latvia; committee of foreign affairs; and committee of ethics. The Parliament also planned to prepare appeals to the President of Latvia, the Saeima, the government and local governments.

• Ombudsman Juris Jansons presented the Annual Report 2012 to the MPs
• Vladimirs Lindermans and Jevgenijs Osipovs elected to the Parliament of Unrepresented

 Yesterday, the Ombudsman Juris Jansons presented its Annual Report 2012 at the Saeima’s plenary session. In the report, the Ombudsman concentrated more on social and economic rights in Latvia. Vesti Segodnya notes that the Ombudsman did not mention in the Report issues regarding status of Russian language and mass-scale non-citizenship, despite the language referendum held in February and scandal around refusal of the Central elections Committee to initiate referendum procedure on granting citizenship to all non-citizens. Latvijas Avize, in its turn, notes that the MPs from the Nationalists’ union All for Latvia!-FF/LNIM criticized the Ombudsman for not mentioning issues regarding incitement of hatred and linguistic discrimination of ethnic Latvians.

30 members got elected in the Parliament of Unrepresented initiated by the Congress of Non-Citizens. 21 of 30 of the members are non-citizens. Among the elected members there are well known left-wing radicals – leaders of the party For Native Language Vladimirs Lindermans and Jevgenijs Osipovs, activist for non-citizens’ rights Aleksandrs Gaponenko, and the head of the Latvian Anti-Fascist Committee Josefs Korens. As reported, about 15,000 persons took part in the elections to the Parliament of Unrepresented. Diena

• General Prosecutor Eriks Kalnmeiers: the number of criminal proceedings on incitement to ethnic hatred grows

• Head of the Centre of Arabic Culture in Latvia Hosam Abu Meri: Muslim community in Latvia is very traditional
• About 15,000 Latvian residents took part in the elections to the Parliament of Unrepresented

 Latvijas Avize prints an interview with the General Prosecutor Eriks Kalnmeiers. According to Mr Kalnmeiers, the number of criminal proceedings on incitement to ethnic hatred grows in Latvia – there were six cases in 2009, seven cases in 2010, eleven cases in 2011, and 17-18 cases in 2012. The General Prosecutor explains the growing number of cases by more precise monitoring of hate speech and more strict approach for investigation of such cases. The main target groups of hate speech on the Internet are ethnic Latvians or Latvian state, ethnic Russians and Russian speakers, and Jews. There were also few cases of incitement to ethnic hatred against Arabs and Estonians. Mr Kalnmeiers believes that the roots of the hateful expressions mostly come from the past – Soviet occupation, repressions, deportations as these events left deep effect which still has an impact, and many identify the past Soviet regime with the present day Russian speakers. Mr Kalnmeiers suggests that those who disseminate hatred could be sent to history re-education lessons as part of the probation measures, similarly to traffic safety lessons, which are mandatory for those drivers, who made too many traffic violations. Mr Kalnmeiers also notes that there are cases when persons publish anonymous hateful expressions in the online discussions with an aim to provoke conflict among the internet users. For instance, there was a case when the authors of hateful expressions against ethnic Latvians were nationalistically minded ethnic Latvians.   

Head of the Centre of Arabic Culture in Latvia Hosam Abu Meri in an interview with Neatkariga denies the assertion made by the Security Police that Muslim community in Latvia might become more radical. Mr Abu Meri says that the Muslim community in Latvia is very traditional and formed by people without radical mindset – Arabs (the fewest number), Azerbaijanis, Tatars, Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Chechens  - people who speak Russian and Latvian language with Latvian or the CIS countries’ mentality. Mr Abu Meri believes that Latvia does not have such a political impact worldwide to become a target of Islamic radicals. Mr Abu Meri also says that Latvia is not a traditional country of destination of immigrants from the Middle East because refugees and immigrants here do not have jobs and social benefits. Therefore large influx of immigrants from the Middle East is not expected in Latvia in the near 20-30 years.

According to the representative of the Congress of Non-Citizens Elizabete Krivcova, about 15,000 Latvian residents took part in the elections. About 10,000 voted at the polling stations and 5,000 on the Internet. The results of the election will be published soon. Vesti Segodnya