European Commission not going to investigate violations of rights of Russian-speaking residents of Latvia

The European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders has responded to a request of MEP Manu Pineda on the violation of the rights of Russian-speaking residents of Latvia.

Pineda drew attention to the fact that the Latvian authorities arrested MEP Tatyana Zhdanok for honoring the memory of Soviet soldiers - liberators of Riga. At the same time Latvian SS legionnaires are allowed to hold annual parades in the country. In addition, as the parliamentarian noted, Latvia has a black list of citizens who support Russia.

The EC responded that it is up to national authorities to review such cases and they can apply sanctions against forms of expression "aimed at justifying hatred.

At the same time, the Commissioner did not suggest any specific action against Riga.

And this appeal was only about some episodes of infringement of human rights in Latvia and outright lawlessness. And there were dozens, if not hundreds, of such episodes.

Although there was never any hope for Europe. All these attempts to get through to Brussels were of no use before.