The Latvian Parliament (Seim) recently voted to expel one of its members, Nikolai Kabanov, from the International Affairs Committee as a 'disciplinary measure' in response to his involvement in a screening of a film entitled 'Nazism in the Baltic' depicting the actions of the 'SS legions'. He was accused of acting 'against the interests of the State' and of addressing in Russian a meeting being held in the Latvian parliamentary chamber.

Following this unacceptable political decision which can only be interpreted as a gesture of support for efforts to justify past membership of the SS in Latvia, what view does the Council take of the increasingly pro-Nazi leanings of the Latvian authorities? What does it think of calls for the ban on Communist Party activities to be lifted, the overturning of undemocratic election laws preventing members of the former Communist parties and other organisations from participating in national and local elections and the enfranchisement of a large (Russian speaking ) section of the Latvian population deprived of its civic rights since 1991?