Comment by the Information and Press Department on the recent detention of human rights activist Alexander Gaponenko by Latvian security services

Prominent Latvian human rights activist Alexander Gaponenko was detained on May 26 in Riga. Gaponenko had planned to fly to Moscow to participate in a documentary film festival with his film “Let Russian Schools Work”, which examines the problems created by Latvian government policies concerning education for ethnic minorities.

The charge of “inciting ethnic hatred”, brought against Gaponenko for a comment he made on social media regarding the presence of American tanks in Riga, is absurd given the clear indifference of the ruling coalition toward legitimate examples of this kind of behaviour, such as recent calls by radical nationalists to drive “non-residents” and disloyal Russian-speakers into “ghettos” and the indulgence of immoral performances and installations with an anti-Russian message under the banner of “democratic freedoms”, which causes justifiable anger and offense among those Latvians whose voices and rights are ignored by the authorities.

Local government institutions exhibit blatant bias and double standards towards dissenters who have the courage to denounce the discriminatory policies of Latvia’s political leadership, which has completely ignored aggressive acts by fanatical nationalists who feel like they can operate with impunity in Latvia.