• Draft amendments Criminal Law criminalising different actions and activities against Latvia’s independence or sovereignty passed the first reading in the Parliament

Media report about the draft amendments to the Criminal Law criminalising different actions and activities against Latvia’s independence or sovereignty or actions undermining territorial integrity, overthrow of the state power or change of the state system. The draft amendments elaborated by the Legal Committee and National Security Committee stipulate criminal liability for merging in organised groups with an objective to perform actions against Latvia, public calls against the state, helping foreign states or foreign organisations in performing harmful actions against Latvia’s security and spying. According to the authors, the proposed amendments would help to address threats of hybrid warfare and to ensure fundamental national interests. The MPs agreed on the urgency of these amendments and decided to consider them in the second and the final reading on 7 April. However, the President Raimonds Vejonis criticized the draft amendments saying that those may be interpreted extremely widely and lead to infringement of fundamental rights. The President called to elaborate clear and unambiguous regulations that do not threaten freedom of speech and freedom of assembly and association. Different experts also expressed their concerns about the proposed regulations. 

Procession of former Latvian legionnaires and their supporters was held in Riga unofficial commemoration day of Latvian Waffen SS legionnaires. Traditionally, after a church service, former legionnaires and their supporters walked through the centre of Riga to the Monument of Freedom to lay the flowers. In total about 900 persons took part in the procession. For comparison, there were about 3,000 participants in 2013. The protest action against the procession was conducted by the members of the Latvian Anti-Nazi Committee in the park near by the Monument. As in the previous years, the large number of police officers maintained security during the events. The biggest incident concerned the detention of a British journalist working for Russia’s TV channel “Russia Today” Graham Phillips. According to the police, Phillips tried to provoke the members of the procession and was detained for disturbing public order and disobeying police requests. Later, he was expelled from Latvia and included in the list of persons whose entry to Latvia is denied. 

• Security Police initiated a criminal proceeding on incitement to hatred towards Russians, Jews and other groups of persons
• Opinion survey: residents do not have a shared opinion on whether non-citizens should be granted voting rights in municipal elections
• MP Karlis Sezants blames Jews in undermining national security

The Security Police has initiated a criminal proceeding on incitement to hatred towards representatives of various groups. A person or a group of persons under a nickname “@nacionaalisti” in Twitter regularly published calls for violence and different insulting statements mainly towards Russians and Jews, but also towards Muslims, dark-skinned people and homosexuals. News agency LETA

According to a public opinion survey conducted by TNS/LNT, Latvian residents do not have a shared opinion on whether non-citizens should be granted voting rights in municipal elections. 48% of Latvian residents agree that Latvian politicians should consider such a possibility, but 49% does not agree with it.  Vesti Segodnya

 Commenting the draft amendments to the Criminal Law stipulating more severe punishment for different actions and activities aimed against independence and sovereignty of Latvia, a member of the Saeima’s Legal Committee, MP Karlis Sezants (Union of Greens and Farmers) stated that persons who are actively engaged in pro-Russia’s and pro-Putin’s propaganda such as Tatjana Zdanoka, Illarions Girss, Aleksandrs Gaponenko and Josifs Korens, belong to a “very smart” ethnic group. When a journalist asked to explain which ethnic group he means, Mr Serzants replied that he means Jews. Lsm.lv 

• Prime Minister Maris Kucinskis: private entrepreneurs have the rights to require employees for proficiency in any foreign language

In an interview with a Russian language public TV channel LTV7, the Prime Minister Maris Kucinskis said that private entrepreneurs have the rights to require employees for proficiency in any foreign language. The Prime Minister argued that language skills are a great value and criticized politicians who reproaches private sector for requirements to be proficient in certain languages. Mr Kucinskis also blamed those who try to make a show from such dates as 16 March (unofficial commemoration days of Latvian Waffen SS legionnaires) and 9 May (unofficial celebration of the end of the WWII or Victory Day); according to him, it gives trumps to Latvia’s foes. He also said that none of the Ministers will take part in the 16 March events in the centre of Riga this year. Lsm.lv

• Lawyer Arturs Kucs: there are no grounds for introduction of such a strict ban on wearing face-covering clothing in Latvia
• Minister of Education and Science Karlis Sadruskis positively evaluates the existing bilingual education system

Diena interviews an associate professor of the Law Department of the University of Latvia Arturs Kucs about the draft law restricting wearing face-covering clothing in public places. Mr Kucs believes that, from the human rights perspective, there are no grounds for introduction of such a strict ban in Latvia. According to him, if the state uses the security reasons for introduction of such restrictions, it should be proven that it is really necessary; if the argument is protection of the Latvian cultural space, it is necessary to prove that a few covered faces endanger it. It has been hard to prove such arguments so far, says Mr Kucs. He also does not agree that the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights S.A.S vs. France  ruling that the French ban on face covering did not violate European Convention on Human Rights cannot be fully applied in Latvia, as the situation in two countries is completely different.

The Minister of Education and Science Karlis Sadruskis in an interview with ves.lv positively evaluates the existing bilingual education system. He says that the students of Russian language schools are proficient in Latvian language and the education quality has not suffered from the reform. The Minister also believes that no changes in the system are necessary, but it is important to ensure that all schools implement the existing regulations in practice.