On Tuesday, 14 June, Latvian Saeima’s Education, Culture and Science Committee passed in the final reading urgent legislative draft that provides for the demolition of objects glorifying Soviet and Nazi regimes, including the Monument to the Liberators of Soviet Latvia and Riga from the German Fascist Invaders in Riga, Victory Park.
The legislative draft On Prohibition of Display of Objects Glorifying the Soviet and Nazi Regimes and Their Dismantling in the Territory of the Republic of Latvia provides that other objects to be dismantled and removed from Latvia are to be listed by the Cabinet of Ministers by 31 July.
Dismantling and removal of said objects is to be completed by 15 November 2022. This will be the duty of the municipal administrations responsible for the territories in which those objects are located.
It is planned to finance demolition from the money donated by private and legal persons if such exist. The remaining funding is to be provided in equal amounts by the state and municipal administrations, as BNN was told by Saeima’s press-service.
The legislative draft also includes special conditions for demolition of objects, including the right for municipalities to initiate demolition regardless of the ownership of the object and the land it is located on. The legislative also includes rules regarding the organisation of procurement procedures. Municipalities and National Heritage Board are to be provided with the right to organise procurements for demolition without applying regulations that normally govern procurements.
Read also: BNN ASKS | Velta Čebotarenoka: we want the monument in Pārdaugava to be liquidated as quickly as possible to prevent possible lawsuits
It is planned to donate remaining fragments with architectural or cultural or educational value to the Museum of Occupation of Latvia. The objective of the legislative draft is to prevent the belittling and destruction of state values, as well as to condemn the unlawful occupation by USSR and Germany, they policies and crimes committed, as well as to prevent untrue, imprecise and non-objective reflecting of historical events and promote the resistance of Latvian nation against occupational regimes of USSR and Nazi Germany.
There are approximately 300 monuments, commemorative plaques and memorials dedicated to the Soviet occupational regime and army in Latvia, according to the annotation to the legislative draft.
It is planned the law will not apply to monuments, commemorative plaques, as well as architectural or artistic objects located in burial places for soldiers killed in the war, as well as memorial places for the victims of Soviet or Nazi terror.
It is planned to view the legislative draft in the final reading on Thursday, 16 June.