10.02.2020, Riga.
The co-chairpersons of the Latvian Russian Union (LRU) Tatyana Zhdanok and Miroslav Mitrofanov addressed an open letter to the Latvian authorities demanding that the annual march of Waffen SS legionaries in Riga must be banned, the organization’s Facebook page reported on February 10.
The letter was addressed to the Latvian Cabinet, the Seim, and the chairperson of the Riga parliament. 38 members of the European Parliament signed the letter.
The signatories include the representatives of Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, and Spain. From Latvia, however, only the leader of the LRU Tatyana Zhdanok signed the resolution. According to Tatyana Zhdanok, Latvian politicians strongly asked her not to sign this statement.
The signatories demand that the glorification of Nazism in the country must be stopped and that the march commemorating Waffen SS legionaries to take place on March 16 must be banned.
First of all, the authors remind the Latvian officials about the EP Resolution 2018/2869(RSP) of October 25, 2018, about the escalation of violations committed by neo-Nazis in Europe, which must be observed.
“In different years, Seim members, ministers, and officials participated in these marches. The marchers go to the Freedom Monument on the central square. The marchers are mostly young people,” the open letter says.
Zhdanok also demands that a thorough investigation must be carried out to ensure that those whom the state authorities of the occupied Latvia forced to join the SS ranks and who was not involved in crimes be discriminated from actual fascist criminals. The MP believes that the outcome of such an investigation must be publicized.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
