Former Riga City Council member Aleksejs Rosļikovs, who fled to Belarus, plans to return to Latvia after the parliamentary election scheduled for this autumn, Svetlana Čulkova, chairwoman of the board of the political party Stabilitātei! (For Stability!), told the LETA news agency.
Rosļikovs is running second on the party’s Riga candidate list. According to Čulkova, he will return to Latvia on 4 October to “immediately resume political work together with the party team.”
Asked whether Rosļikovs would return even if Stabilitātei! (For Stability!) fails to win seats in the 15th Saeima, Čulkova did not give a direct answer, saying the party does not consider it possible that it would fail to secure the required 5% of the vote.
Rosļikovs said the election is “not the finish line, but the beginning of a new stage.”
“On 4 October I will be back in Latvia to continue working for our voters. Our team has a clear vision and the determination to defend people’s interests through concrete action rather than empty promises,” he said.
The party stressed that, regardless of the election outcome, its priority will remain active work for society, regular dialogue with residents and the consistent implementation of its programme. Stabilitātei! (For Stability!) said Rosļikovs’ return would mark the beginning of the party’s next phase of work, focused on representing voters’ interests and delivering practical solutions to issues important to the country.
As previously reported, the party’s lead candidates for the 15th Saeima election are Svetlana Čulkova, Pāvels Kuzmins, Natālija Marčenko-Jodko, Ludmila Rjazanova and Igors Orlovs.
Earlier this year, several lawmakers — Dmitrijs Kovoļenko, Iļja Ivanovs, Igors Judins and Amils Saļimovs — left Stabilitātei! (For Stability!), causing the party’s parliamentary faction to dissolve after it fell below the minimum requirement of five MPs. Čulkova said the remaining four lawmakers continue to work in parliament as independent deputies.
It has also been reported that at the end of May, Riga City Council revoked Rosļikovs’ council mandate after he failed to attend more than half of the council meetings over a three-month period.
Meanwhile, the Riga City Court in the Latgale District amended the pre-trial security measure imposed on Rosļikovs, ordering his detention after he had left for Belarus.
The request was submitted by prosecutor Kaspars Andruškins during a court hearing in the criminal case in which Rosļikovs is charged with inciting national hatred.
The court also declared Rosļikovs wanted and suspended the proceedings until he is located.
Rosļikovs has acknowledged that he is in Belarus. He said he failed to appear in court and did not return to Latvia because he feared for his life, claiming he had received telephone threats from individuals who threatened to “cut off his head.”
According to Rosļikovs, the State Security Service (VDD) offered him the opportunity to live in a safe house for six months, but he declined because he did not want to wait for the threats against him to be carried out.
Rosļikovs is charged with inciting national and ethnic hatred. He maintains that the criminal case against him is politically motivated.
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