• Latvia will accept an ex-prisoner from Guantanamo

Yesterday, the government decided to accept one former prisoner from the U.S. prison at Guantanamo. According to the government, the detainee originally comes from Uzbekistan and belongs to the category of detainees who are cleared for release and do not constitute a threat to the public. The person will have status of stateless person and, according to

Yesterday, the government decided to accept one former prisoner from the U.S. prison at Guantanamo. According to the government, the detainee originally comes from Uzbekistan and belongs to the category of detainees who are cleared for release and do not constitute a threat to the public. The person will have status of stateless person and, according to Telegraf, theoretically will have the right to receive permanent residency permit and Latvian citizenship trough naturalisation. The prisoner could arrive to Latvia within the next six months. Chas, Vesti Segodnya, Telegraf, Latvijas Avize, Diena, Neatkariga

• Chas prints an interview with a member of the Presidents Advisory Council on Ethnic Minorities, Latvian poet Knuts Skuenieks
• Jewish religious community Shamir is planning to open museum of Ghetto in Riga
• Chas and Vesti Segodnya print opinion of directors of Russian language schools and other experts about proposed switch of all state funded schools into Latvian language
• Ministry of Interior decided to check the language proficiency of all policemen
• Neatkariga: Latvias First Party/Latvias Way wants to receive support from Russian speakers

Chas prints an interview with a member of the Presidents Advisory Council on Ethnic Minorities, Latvian poet Knuts Skuenieks. According to Mr. Skuenieks, luck of common understanding among ethnic Latvians and Russians in Latvia is caused by luck of distinct ethnic policy in Latvia. Mr. Skuenieks believes that representatives of both ethnicities should learn to respect interests of the other even if those do not coincide with yours. Mr. Skuenieks also believes that slogan Latvia for ethnic Latvians is unreal for Latvia because the country has never been mono-ethnic country. At the same time, he believes that Russian language should not be granted status of official language in Latvia because it would cast doubts over the existence of Latvian state.

Jewish religious community “Shamir” is planning to open museum of Ghetto in Riga. The museum will immortalise remembrance of victims of the Holocaust.

Jewish religious community Shamir is planning to open museum of Ghetto in Riga. The museum will immortalise remembrance of victims of the Holocaust. Vesti Segodnya, Telegraf

Chas and Vesti Segodnya print opinion of directors of Russian language schools and other experts about proposal of the political party For Fatherland and Freedom/LNIM to switch all state funded schools into Latvian language. The directors and experts consider that this proposal will not come into force and that it is only pre-election PR of the party.

Following a statement made by the State Language Centre that a number of policemen in Riga have fake Latvian language proficiency certificates, the Ministry of Interior decided to check the language proficiency of all policemen and authenticity of their language certificates. According to the Minister Linda Murniece, those who do not speak Latvian cannot work in the police.

Following a statement made by the State Language Centre that a number of policemen in Riga have fake Latvian language proficiency certificates, the Ministry of Interior decided to check the language proficiency of all policemen and authenticity of their language certificates. According to the Minister Linda Murniece, those who do not speak Latvian cannot work in the police. Diena

According to

According to Neatkariga, the political party Latvias First Party/Latvias Way (LFP/LW) will compete with the Concord Centre for the votes of Russian speaking residents. In order to receive support of Russian residents, the LFP/LW most likely will attract prominent representatives of Russian community to the party.

• 52 persons applied for asylum in Latvia in 2009
• Inspectors of the State Language Centre found four policemen had fake Latvian language proficiency certificates which belong to four policemen
• Experts interviewed by Latvijas Avize criticize proposed switch of all state funded schools into Latvian language

According to the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs, 52 persons applied for asylum in Latvia in 2009. Only five persons were granted asylum and six persons received alternative status. The majority of asylum seekers were from Afghanistan - 6 adults and 12 children, and Uzbekistan -11 persons.

According to the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs, 52 persons applied for asylum in Latvia in 2009. Only five persons were granted asylum and six persons received alternative status. The majority of asylum seekers were from Afghanistan - 6 adults and 12 children, and Uzbekistan -11 persons. Vesti Segodnya

Latvijas Avize reports that inspectors of the State Language Centre found four policemen had fake Latvian language proficiency certificates which belong to four policemen. The inspectors demand for explanations from the policemen ton explain where they received the fake certificates.

Experts interviewed by

Experts interviewed by Latvijas Avize criticize proposal of the political party For Fatherland and Freedom/LNIM to switch all state funded schools into Latvian language. The experts believe that the reform implemented in minority schools in 2004 according to which 60% of subjects are studied in Latvian language bringgives good results.

• Professor Leons Taivans: there should be three official languages in Latvia – Latvian, English and Russian
• NGO Prata Speks launched free-of-charge Latvian language courses for the eighth year
• Naturalisation process after 1 March might be hindered
• MP Boriss Cilevics: naturalisation process is stalled
• Most popular parties in January: Concord Centre, New Era and Union of Greens and Farmers

Chas prints an interview with professor of the University of Latvia Leons Taivans. Mr. Taivans believes Latvia is a two-community country where authority belongs to ethnic Latvians. But such situation cannot last long because ethnic Russian residents of Latvia are stronger in economic field and are employed in sectors which bring bigger income, while, ethnic Latvians are employed mostly in agriculture and in cultural sphere which are not profitable anymore. According to Mr. Taivans, there should be three official languages in Latvia – Latvian, English and Russian because only thus ethnic tensions would disappear and it would be possible to built normal state.

Vesti Segodnya reports that an NGO Prata Speks launched free-of-charge Latvian language courses for the eighth consecutive year for people who want to pass naturalisation exams. Head of the NGO Igors Kuzmuks states that Latvian authorities have never provided any support for the courses because they are not interested in successful naturalisation process.

Representatives of the Naturalisation Board (NB) in an interview with Telegraf state that, most probably, NB will face serious problems after 1 March when it will be fully subordinated to the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs (OCMA). The main problem will arise due to lack of competence of the OCMAs workers who will have to implement NBs functions. The lack of competence might lead to serious organisational difficulties and hinder naturalisation process. Telegraf

Telegraf prints an article by the MP Boriss Cilevics (Concord Centre) on naturalisation process in Latvia. Mr. Cilevics believes that naturalisation process is stalled and situation with citizenship returned to the level of 90-ies. According to Mr. Cilevics, two paradoxes appeared in 2009 – persons receive Latvian citizenship with the main motivation to depart from Latvia; and there have been more Latvian non-citizens who received Russian citizenship than those who choose Latvian citizenship.

According to the latest public opinion survey held by Latvijas fakti, the most popular party in January is the Concord Centre – 18,8% of Latvian citizens support it. The New Era is supported by 9,9%, the Union of Greens and Farmers by 7,7% and the Civic Union by 5,5%. Other parties are supported by less than 5% of respondents. Chas, Diena (28.01)

• 2,706 Latvian non-citizens received Russian citizenship in 2009
• Two oldest people in Latvia (born in 1898 and 1899) are non-citizens
• The General Prosecutors Office received a complaint on journalist Karlis Streips asking to evaluate whether his Internet blog is inciting to ethnic hatred

2,706 Latvian non-citizens received Russian citizenship and residency permit in Latvia in 2009. Latvian citizenship trough naturalisation was granted to 2,080 persons. Persons who choose Russian citizenship are mostly in the pre-pension age and unemployed and allegedly their main motivation is the fact that pension age in Russia is 55 years for women and 60 years for man, while, in Latvia it is 62 years for both genders.

2,706 Latvian non-citizens received Russian citizenship and residency permit in Latvia in 2009. Latvian citizenship trough naturalisation was granted to 2,080 persons. Persons who choose Russian citizenship are mostly in the pre-pension age and unemployed and allegedly their main motivation is the fact that pension age in Russia is 55 years for women and 60 years for man, while, in Latvia it is 62 years for both genders. Chas, Vesti Segodnya, Latvijas Avize

According to the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs (OCMA), two oldest people in Latvia (born in 1898 and 1899) are non-citizens. The biggest age group among Latvian non-citizens is 50 to 60 years.. Among children born in 1994 there are 1,034 non-citizens, while among children born in 2009 there are 588 non-citizens. According to OCMA, representatives of 154 ethnicities are living among 2,25 millions of Latvian residents, while the biggest ethnic groups are Latvians (1,34 millions, or 59,4% of the population), Russians (621,766 or 27,6%),  Belorussians (80,500 or 3,6%) and Ukrainians 55,700 or 2,5%).

According to the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs (OCMA), two oldest people in Latvia (born in 1898 and 1899) are non-citizens. The biggest age group among Latvian non-citizens is 50 to 60 years.. Among children born in 1994 there are 1,034 non-citizens, while among children born in 2009 there are 588 non-citizens. According to OCMA, representatives of 154 ethnicities are living among 2,25 millions of Latvian residents, while the biggest ethnic groups are Latvians (1,34 millions, or 59,4% of the population), Russians (621,766 or 27,6%), Belorussians (80,500 or 3,6%) and Ukrainians 55,700 or 2,5%). Chas

The General Prosecutor’s Office received a complaint on journalist Karlis Streips asking to evaluate whether his Internet blog is inciting to ethnic hatred. The complainant considers that the texts written in Streips’ blog put representatives of different ethnicities against each other and split Latvian residents by ethnic belonging. Allegedly, Karlis Streips labelled Russian residents of Latvia as “the 5

The General Prosecutors Office received a complaint on journalist Karlis Streips asking to evaluate whether his Internet blog is inciting to ethnic hatred. The complainant considers that the texts written in Streips blog put representatives of different ethnicities against each other and split Latvian residents by ethnic belonging. Allegedly, Karlis Streips labelled Russian residents of Latvia as the 5th column and the Monument to the Soviet Liberators of Riga from Nazi Invaders as the phallic monument. Chas, Neatkariga