It would be wrong to now, looking from modern positions, start blaming security institutions for not taking harsh measures against pro-Kremlin activist, MEP Tatyana Zhdanok, because in the past there were not only different laws but also a different attitude towards cooperation with Russia, said chairman of Saeima Legal Affairs Committee Andrejs Judins in an interview to Diena newspaper.
He explains that in a time when, according to the recent publication, Zhdanok was providing information to Russian intelligence services, there was already a section on espionage in the Criminal Law of the Republic of Latvia. But there were no guilty party, because it was necessary to prove “the transfer or collection of undisclosed information on behalf of foreign intelligence agencies”. It is the existence of tasks granted by foreign intelligence agencies that was nearly impossible to prove in many cases. In 2016 the Criminal Law was corrected. Now it states that criminal liability comes into effect for “collecting of non-disclosable information for the purposes of transferring it or commits transferring thereof to a foreign state or foreign organisation, either directly or through mediation of another person, or who commits illegal collecting of other information or transferring thereof to a foreign intelligence service on its behalf, directly or with the intermediation of another person”.
According to Judins,
if Latvia had more aggressive institutions, “in a good sense”, that would attack everything that has even the slightest risk for national security, there would be more criminal procedures,
but law enforcement institutions always keep in mind how their actions will be viewed by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. “This is the problem. No, it right to protect human rights, this makes sense. But the question is – if an investigator is forced to worry all the time whether or nor the prosecutor accepts their case, if the court of first instance announces a guilty verdict or the court of appeal instance does not give acquittal, this makes institutions very cautious.”
The Saeima deputy stresses that law enforcement institutions cannot forget about human rights. However, at the same time they have to do everything they can to protect the country. “But the fact of the matter is – yes, they always have to wait for iron-clad proof. And I don’t want to accuse anyone of negligence, because it is true – until 2016 it was very difficult to apply the Criminal Law,” the politician said in his interview to Diena.
“And until 2014 those who now yell “madness, Russia!”, looked softer – sure, Zhdanok is pro-Russian, I will never vote for her, we don’t like her, blegh! But it wasn’t considered a crime. Now things are simple – Russia is an aggressor state, and if you support it, you are a supporter of aggression and that’s that. This wasn’t the case in the past. As for the State Revenue Service (VDD), it would be wrong to accuse them of doing nothing. I don’t know what information they had to work with,” said Judins.
He also reminds that former Mayor of Riga Nils Ušakovs wrote reports to the Russian embassy,
and no one spoke of any criminal cases at the time. There was also talk about hacked e-mails, invasion of privacy back then. Standards and opinions change with the times. “I’m not saying Ušakovs should have been criminally prosecuted. I wan to remind everyone that at the time people thought to themselves “blegh, how awful!” about all this, and Harmony responded by rhetorically mentioning that others report to the US embassy, so what about them going to the Russian embassy. What’s the problem? It was a different time back then. We cannot blame our law enforcers for not arresting Zhdanok in 1990.”
Judins explains that in the modern democratic system people are not subjected to repressions for having a different opinion. Law enforcers have to prove something more – treason, transfer of sensitive information, etc. “We don’t prosecute people for having opinions that lean one way or the other. And Zhdanok is lucky to have voters who cast their votes. But […] the reality is that democracy needs to be strong, with a sword in hand, it should not just stand there and smile. I don’t know all of the nuances, but I allow that there is some other information aside from the e-mails, and the State Security Service should check it and act,” said the politician.
Also read: “The KGB Bag made no mention of my name”, Zhdanok comment article on her cooperation with Russian FSB
Also read: European Parliament investigates Zhdanok’s ties to Russian intelligence agency
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