The State Duma appealed to the parliaments of European states on the repressive actions of the authorities
of the Republic of Latvia against Russian-speaking journalists. The draft was
submitted for consideration by the Committee on International Affairs and was
unanimously supported by the members of the State Duma.
“Members of the State Duma
appeal to the parliaments of European states to condemn the gross violations by authorities of the Republic of Latvia of its international obligations to respect freedom of speech, as well as freedom of work of the media and to prevent the use of force and censorship as tools of political struggle and information confrontation,” the text of the document says. “The document will
be sent to European parliaments and inter-parliamentary organizations,” said
the Chairman of the Committee on International Affairs Leonid Slutskiy
Slutsky
Leonid Eduardovich
.
“The current situation with freedom
of speech in the Baltic states does not meet European standards and democratic
norms. The real persecutions have been launched against the Russian-language media.
We see a systematic violation of human rights. Russian parliamentarians will
continue to raise the issue of persecution of the Russian-language press in the Baltic states at major inter-parliamentary platforms such as PACE and the OSCE
PA. We will do this in person and via videoconference,” the parliamentarian
said.
