Latvian lawmaker arrested and searched over alleged cooperation with Russia and incitement of ethnic hatred

Latvian authorities arrested Aleksejs Rosļikovs, a former parliament member and newly elected Riga City Council member, on Monday, according to the news agency Delfi.

Lawmakers Igor Yudin and Svetlana Čulkova were the first to report Rosļikovs’s arrest. Čulkova said he was taken into custody on Monday morning. Latvian law enforcement agencies have not yet commented on the detention.

Rosļikovs later said that authorities had searched his home and questioned him as a suspect in a criminal case over alleged incitement of ethnic hatred and cooperation with Russia. He added that he was released on his own recognizance.

A week earlier, Rosļikovs had used a speech from the parliament floor to criticize a draft declaration on “redressing the legacy of Russification,” asserting that “Russian speakers stood on the barricades together with Latvians.” During his remarks, he switched from Latvian to Russian, declared, “There are more of us, and Russian is our language!” and made a rude gesture at his fellow deputies before walking out. He was subsequently expelled from the chamber.

The Latvian State Security Service (VDD) said it had previously held “preventive conversations” with Rosļikovs on several occasions over his public statements, warning him of possible legal consequences.