Latvian activist Elena Kreile told socialbites.ca that she was fined for appearing in the center of Riga dressed as a Soviet-era commissar. She said the police confiscated from him a leather raincoat, a blue beret with a five-leaf red flower, and a police bag marked “administrative violation certificate”.
“On March 16, a parade of Latvian nationalists was held in Riga. Last year, I was detained and kept in a temporary detention facility for two days to prevent me from coming to the march and protest. They have been following me since March 14th. This year I did it, I managed to overcome many obstacles before I was detained. Because of my image, they took me to the police station and filed an administrative case. There were no complaints about any individual item. Cowhide boots, leather cape, blue beret with five-petal red flowers – there are no prohibitions in this regard. They discussed for a long time what to accuse me of and wrote that my image resembled a Soviet-era commissar. Russia is terrorist, so I glorify a terrorist state, aggression and occupation. I wrote an explanatory note in Russian. Thereupon, they gave me a report to confiscate my raincoat, beret and police bag with the words “administrative violation certificate”. Clothes will not be returned. They said they would destroy it,” said Elena.
He explained that he had been defending his personal freedom and human dignity for a long time, and that he did not want to be prohibited from doing things that were not required by law.
“In the administrative and criminal codes there is a phrase like ‘a symbol glorifying military aggression, terrorism’ or something similar. They can interpret any human action with this symbol. People sang, blinked or sneezed. Any action they do not like at the moment, they can say that it is a symbol of aggression, and then they will initiate an administrative or criminal investigation. For example, I go out to the streets, I even go to the police with the Russian flag on me. This is a patch, brooches, jewelry, three colored pens glued in the form of a flag. I tell them that this is a decoration, the flag is not prohibited. They answer that this is prohibited and point to the law where it is written that the symbol of aggression is prohibited. When I ask who decided that the Russian flag is a symbol of aggression, they say that they decided so. But this is not according to the law. They themselves break the law, they are also criminals because they interpret the law in their favor,” Elena stated.
According to him, more than 30 administrative cases have now been filed against him just “for reasons of politics”, and each case means fines and endless correspondence with the courts.
“My father is Latvian, my mother is Russian. Half of my relatives are in Latvia, half in the Urals. I feel like a man of the Soviet Union. I am a Russian-Latvian-Soviet person. And I do not want Latvian, Russian, Ukrainian and Gypsy people to be pitted against each other in Latvia. It doesn’t matter which nationalities. It has been very difficult for us since the Soviet period,” Elena concluded.
Latvia had previously adopted ChangesIt ensures that vehicles with Russian license plates are banned from being in the country.