Thread by @IskoLat

🧵Latvian thought crime law. A thread.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Latvia has been actively using the Article 74.1 to shut down dissent and imprison anyone who dares to criticize the nationalist regime.
Let's see what it says (see the translation below).

Article 74.1. Public justification of genocide, crimes against humanity, crimes against peace and war crimes.

For publicly justifying genocide, a crime against humanity, a crime against peace or a war crime, perpetration of current genocide, a crime against humanity, including..

... including genocide carried out by the USSR or Nazi Germany, their crimes against humanity, crimes against peace, war crimes against the Republic of Latvia and its people, which includes any public praise, acquittal, denial of such actions or gross disrespect, are punishable..

by imprisonment for up to five years or by temporary deprivation of liberty, or by probation with community service, or with a fine.

(Adopted 21.05.2009. Revision of the law as amended by 13.12.2012., 15.05.2014. and 17.12.2020 revisions the law. Made effective on 01.01.2022)

Let's what really hides behind this law:

"...justifying ... genocide carried out by the USSR or Nazi Germany, their crimes against humanity, crimes against peace, war crimes against the Republic of Latvia and its people..."

This is the most important part.

This part of the law enables open historical revisionism by attempting to equate the USSR to Nazi Germany, which is a common tactic of nazi apologia (the "double genocide theory"). There can be no equivalence between those who carried out the Holocaust and those who stopped it.

As you can see, this law contains absolutely no sources or references to back up these egregious claims. The law uses extreme anti-communist propaganda, which is based on historical fabrications by the fascists after WW2 to hide or minimize nazi crimes, and assumes it as fact.

This law was actively pushed by the neo-fascist party "National Alliance", which forms the government coalition in Latvia. Members of National Alliance attend neo-nazi events, such as the "Latvian SS Legion Day" on March 16. Unsurprisingly, none of them were tried under this law.

The wording of this law is so broad that any positive coverage of the USSR/Latvian SSR as well as any historical research can land you in prison.
Latvian nationalist dogma is based on feral anti-communism and historical fabrications to paint nazi collaborators as victims.

This law is also actively used against anti-war activists and socialists who oppose Latvia's growing involvement in the imperialist war in Ukraine. People are accused of "justifying Russian war crimes" even for slight criticism of the Latvian government or Zelensky's regime.

As of the time of writing, at least 20 Latvian journalists and bloggers are tried on purely political charges (for example, Edgars Bleiders, Alexey Stefanov, Yuri Alexeyev, Marat Kasem etc.). Some cases are as old as 2017 (as the police is looking for charges that will stick).

Meanwhile, Latvia lectures others on democracy and human rights. This is the same state that enforces apartheid based on country of birth (see "non-citizens"), participates in the occupation of Kosovo. And it also participated in the NATO-led invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq.

But no one here is going to be tried for war crimes against Yugoslavia, Iraq and Afghanistan. No one will be tried for nazi crimes against the people of the USSR (which includes the people of Latvia as well).
Otherwise, you'd have to apprehend those who came up with Article 74.1.