Latvia’s Minister of Environment Protection and Regional Development Minister Artūrs Toms Plešs has asked Daugavpils City Council chairman Andrejs Elksniņš to present a schedule for the demolition of two Soviet monuments in the city, as detailed in the letter the minister sent the mayor.
In his letter to the mayor of Daugavpils, the minister explains that on 21 July he sent letters to all municipalities in Latvia, asking them to prepare a schedule for the removal of Soviet memorials and monuments and submit them to the ministry by 5 August.
In his letter sent to VARAM on 26 July, Elksniņš wrote that in order to prepare an accurate schedule, it is necessary to request additional information from certain state institutions.
On 26 July the municipal administration turned to the Ministry of Culture and National Cultural Heritage Board (NKMP) to provide reports on the following objects:
Memorial to Red Army Troops
Memorial to Soldiers of the Red Army 360th Rifle Division
Elksniņš asked institutions to provide reports regarding the classification of the two objects in question in accordance with Section 6.2 or Section 6.5 of the Law on prohibition of display of objects praising the Soviet and Nazi regimes and their dismantling in the territory of the Republic of Latvia.
If parts of memorials or monuments in question have some artistic value, the object is to be documented using 3D scanning prior to demolition.
In its response to the request from Daugavpils City Council, NKMP explained that the two objects in question qualify for Section 6.2 of the law and as cultural-historical-engineering structure based on Section 1.3 of the Construction Law.
At the same time, NKMP provided information that the Memorial to Red Army Troops is to be documented using 3D scanning.
Plešs, meanwhile, claims 3D laser scanning is no reason to not demolish the object in question.
This means that, despite the fact that NKMP plans to scan the memorial and document it, the municipality can already start organising procurements, start planning and start preparing for the demolition of the object once scanning is done.
NKMP explained to VARAM that the only activities that cannot be performed before 3D laser scanning is the physical demolition of the object.
Plešs ordered Elksniņš to provide a schedule within 20 days. Aside from that, the mayor is also ordered to provide detailed information about necessary measures in order to remove the objects in question within the term set by the government.
The minister also ordered a detailed report on sources of financing the municipal administration plans to use in order to remove those two memorials.
The minister stressed in the letter that if Daugavpils City Council do not cease inaction in regards to compliance with requirements of the law and will continue delaying the surveying function ordered by the ministry, the minister will evaluate the city council’s and the mayor’s liability for not complying with the duties entrusted to them.
On 30 June Daugavpils City Council decided to turn to the Constitutional Court, challenging the aforementioned law’s compliance with the country’s Constitution.