Photo credit: lv.baltnews.com
The Constitutional Court of Latvia, having recognized the ban on teaching in private schools in Russian as legal, was guided by political motives, the Russian representative to the OSCE, Alexander Lukashevich, is sure. He said this during a speech at a meeting of the permanent council of the international organization, RIA Novosti reports.
The Russian diplomat recalled that three lawsuits from parents, whose children studied in private schools, were combined in one case. And the judges announced that educational reform supposedly did not prohibit teaching in the languages of national minorities. At the same time, students should be able to use the state language.
Such court verdicts only led to even greater isolation of the Russian-speaking population of the Baltic republic, Lukashevich emphasized. And the decision is made under the guise of good intentions about integration. Thus, the actions of Riga contradict the laws of the country and the international obligations undertaken by the Latvian authorities.
The Permanent Representative of Russia called on the OSCE structures to evaluate the measures taken by Latvia, which grossly violated the rights of national and linguistic minorities.
Earlier, the Russian Foreign Ministry called the decision of the Constitutional Court discriminatory. Let us
remember, the Russian-speaking population of Latvia to loose the opportunity to get education in their native language beginning from secondary school, even if they were willing to pay their money for it.
The course on “language terror”, which has been followed by the Latvian authorities over the past thirty years, has more than once been the subject of condemnation by the most respected international institutions. It was criticized by the Council of Europe and the OSCE. Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatovic and OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Lamberto Zannier criticized the situation of national minorities in Latvia.
Russkiy Mir
