“I will return to the Baltics, to Latvia, and I will take absolutely the entire country away from you, dear regime. I will take it away in order to return it to the people,” politician Aleksejs Rosļikovs declared on social media after his Riga City Council mandate was revoked on Thursday, the 21st of May.
“I will take it back in order to open the borders and restore relations with our neighbors. The fact that you took away my deputy mandate today solves absolutely nothing for you. Major geopolitical changes lie ahead — believe me, I am returning, and I am returning to remove you and give the country back to the people,” Rosļikovs stated on social media.
@roslikovs Уже скоро! #ROSLIKOVS ♬ оригинальный звук – Aleksejs Roslikovs 🇱🇻
This week, Riga City Council voted to revoke Rosļikovs’ mandate as a council deputy representing the party “Stabilitātei.” The decision was made because Rosļikovs had failed to attend more than half of council meetings over a three-month period.
A total of 41 deputies voted in favor of revoking his mandate, while five voted against.
Those opposing the decision included deputies from Suverēnā vara and the alliance Jaunlatvieši (SV/AJ) — Inna Djeri, Jūlija Sohina, Igors Solomatins, and Vjačeslavs Stepaņenko — as well as “Stabilitātei” deputy Nikolajs Kabanovs.
Several deputies did not participate in the vote,
including Jūlija Stepaņenko, Rūdolfs Brēmanis, Artūrs Klēbahs, Ļubova Švecova, and Liāna Langa from the National Alliance.
The procedure is provided under Latvia’s Law on the Status of Municipal Council Deputies. Article 4 states that if a deputy fails, without justified reason, to attend more than half of regular council meetings within three months, the council or the Minister for Environmental Protection and Regional Development may revoke the mandate.
According to data from Latvia’s Central Election Commission, the next candidate from the “Stabilitātei” party with the highest number of voter preferences is Andrejs Kozlovs.
Kozlovs told LETA news agency that he would accept the mandate because voters had supported him.
He also said he plans to be an active deputy.
He intends to continue working within the “Stabilitātei” faction, which has now been reduced from five to three deputies. Besides Kozlovs, the faction currently includes Nikolajs Kabanovs and Jakovs Pliners.
Debates among council deputies over the issue lasted more than two hours. The strongest opposition to revoking Rosļikovs’ mandate came from SV/AJ deputies, who argued that Rosļikovs had been denied access to council meetings rather than being unable to connect to them.
In their view, conditions were deliberately created to prevent him from joining meetings, ultimately leading to the revocation of his mandate.
Riga Mayor Viesturs Kleinbergs explained that
on the 15th of April an attempt had been made to access Rosļikovs’ user account from Belarusian territory.
Using an online video conferencing tool, a remote connection from Belarus was established to a meeting of the Riga City Development Committee.
Given that cybersecurity incidents require immediate response and appropriate security measures, the municipality imposed temporary restrictions on access to municipal information systems and IT networks.
According to Kleinbergs, Rosļikovs had been informed that access could be restored if he appeared in person at Riga City Council, which he failed to do.
During the council meeting, deputies accused one another of violating the law. The Riga mayor was accused of having a “split personality,” while SV/AJ was labeled a “Russian party” and its deputies were referred to as “Interfront.”
As previously reported,
Riga City Court in the Latgale District decided to change the security measure imposed on Rosļikovs,
who had left for Belarus, replacing it with detention.
The request was submitted by prosecutor Kaspars Andruškins during a court session in the criminal case in which Rosļikovs is accused of inciting national hatred.
At the same time, the accused was declared wanted, and the court proceedings were suspended until he is located.
Rosļikovs admitted that he is currently in Belarus and explained that he did not attend the court hearing or return to Latvia because he feared for his life after allegedly receiving telephone threats from individuals who threatened to “cut off his head.”
According to Rosļikovs, Latvia’s State Security Service (VDD) had allegedly offered him the opportunity to live in a safe apartment for six months, but he refused because he did not want to wait until the threats were carried out.
Rosļikovs is accused of inciting national and ethnic hatred. He himself claims that the case against him is politically motivated.
Read also: Rosļikovs, who initially fled to Belarus, may have been seen in Germany and Italy