On Thursday, 16 June, Latvian Saeima passed in the final reading the law that allows the demolition of objects that glorify Soviet and Nazi regimes, including the monument in Pārdaugava, as reported by Saeima press-service.
This means the Monument to the Liberators of Soviet Latvia and Riga from the German Fascist Invaders in Riga will be demolished.
The Law on the Prohibition of the Display of Objects Praising the Soviet and Nazi Regime and Their Dismantling in the Territory of the Republic of Latvia states that other objects to be demolished are to be listed by the Cabinet of Ministers by 31 July 2022.
Demolition and removal of objects in question is to be done by 15 November 2022. It will be the duty of municipal administrations within the territory of which those objects (monuments, plaques and memorials) are located.
Riga City Council previously agreed that the Victory Monument in Riga must by demolished by 15 November.
Demolition is planned to be financed 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.
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.
The law does 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.