Student reports Security Police action to prosecutor

Andrejs Leijejs, a student at the University of Latvia, has written to Latvia' s Prosecutor-General asking that the agency investigate whether the Security Police have not violated the Latvian Constitution by detaining for questioning and then imposing a travel ban on Ventspils University College instructor Dmitrijs Smirnovs.

The Security Police have started criminal proceedings against Smirnovs for statements about the Latvian banking system in a public discussion of the economic and financial crisis published in the regional newspaper Ventas Balss. Smirnovs said that in view of excessive lending by mainly Swedish-owned Latvian banks, he would not keep funds in the banks or in the Latvian currency, the lats.

Leijejs asks the Prosecutor-General to determine whether the actions against Smirnovs violated the Latvian constitution's guarantee of freedom of speech and the provisions of the constitution that declare Latvia as a democratic republic.

For Latvian readers, here is the lead of the Diena story on this. The complete story, with a link to the text of the student' s submission (iesniegums) is here.

Latvijas Universitātes students Andrejs Leijējs ģenerālprokuratūrai lūdz izvērtēt drošības policijas rīcību uz divām diennaktīm aizturot Ventspils augstskolas Finanšu un grāmatvedības katedras lektoru Dmitriju Smirnovu, kā arī vēlāk liedzot viņam izbraukt no valsts. Kā Dienai norāda A.Leijējs, viņš aicina izvērtēt vai drošības policija ar savu rīcību nav pārkāpusi Satversmes pantu, kas paredz, ka ikvienam ir tiesības paust savus uzskatus un cenzūra ir aizliegta. A.Leijējs lūdz arī pārbaudīt, vai nav pārkāpts Satversmes pants, kas nosaka, ka Latvija ir demokrātiska republika.