Constitutional Court says order for Latvian municipalities to remove Soviet monuments compliant with Constitution

On Thursday, the 7th of December, the Constitutional Court of Latvia concluded that the regulations that make it a duty for municipalities to remove objects glorifying the Soviet Union in Daugavpils as compliant with the Constitution of the Republic of Latvia, as reported by the court.
The plea was submitted to the court by Daugavpils City Council. According to members of the city council, in 1992 Daugavpils removed monuments erected during the Soviet era that did not have any artistic value and only reflected Soviet ideology. Other objects remain in a good state and since the restoration of independence have been maintained. These objects do no glorify the regime, rather are dedicated to the commemoration of those killed in the war.
Daugavpils municipality submitted another plea to the Constitutional Court again because it believed that the Law on Prohibition of Exposure of Objects Praising the Soviet and Nazi Regimes and Their Dismantling in the Territory of Latvia, specifically Part 2 of Section 4 and parts two and five of Section 5, as well as Part 1 of Section 8, do not comply with Articles 1 and 101 of the Constitution.

These articles of the Constitution detail the rights of municipalities to manage their territories in the interests of their residents.

According to Daugavpils City Council, by asking the municipality to remove the objects listed by the Cabinet of Ministers, the state had directly interfered with the municipality’s autonomous functions.
The municipality believes during the legislative draft’s preparation and approval process, Daugavpils municipality was not given the right to participate in decision-making.

The Constitutional Court concluded that the objects glorifying the Soviet Red Army listed for removal by the government were originally installed to change Latvian residents’ memories

and emotions about the crimes against people and the state committed during the occupation and remind them of the presence of the Soviet regime. Taking into account the reasons for the origin of the objects praising the Soviet regime and the fact that municipalities were already bound by the principle of national continuity since the adoption of the Declaration of Restoration of Independence, the ST concludes that already before the entry into force of the contested norms, only actions of municipalities aimed at eliminating the symbolic impact of the objects, such as dismantling or placing the objects in accredited museums, were allowed.
In turn, in the contested norms, the principle of national continuity has been specified, limiting the previously existing action possibilities of the municipality in relation to the elimination of the symbolic impact of the objects and imposing a specific obligation to clear respective territories.
As previously reported, in October 2022 the monuments dedicated to Soviet troops in Daugavpils, Slava Square, were dismantled.
The government’s composed list of monuments for removal included two objects in Daugavpils. One was the place of commemoration dedicated to the Red Army troops located on 18th November Strees, and the other was the monument dedicated to the Red Army’s 360th Riflemen Division.
For a long time Mayor of Daugavpils Andrejs Elksniņš fought to ensure monuments are not dismantled, but they have since been removed from Daugavpils.
The issue of Soviet monuments and their presence in Latvia became a hot topic after the start of the Russian-Ukrainian war.
Also read: Opinion: it will be a real challenge for municipalities to survive
Follow us on Facebook and X!