The initiative envisages depriving the citizenship of Latvian citizens who have been convicted of serious crimes against the state, including espionage, terrorism, fighting in the ranks of the Russian armed forces and other terrorist organizations, and crimes against humanity.
Similar measures have already been adopted in Lithuania, which has extended the mechanism of revocation of citizenship to those who actively participate in Russian military operations. In another recent case, citizenship was stripped from six people who had secretly acquired Russian citizenship.
In Estonia a law was introduced in 2020 which is similar to the measures requested by supporters of the petition in Latvia. In Estonia "the government can revoke the citizenship of persons convicted of committing serious crimes against the state, belonging to a terrorist organisation, committing or preparing terrorist offences, incitement to terrorist offences or funding and supporting acts of terror, or travelling for terrorist purposes. The amendment affects people that have acquired Estonian citizenship through naturalisation, those who have acquired it by birth cannot be stripped of their citizenship."
In Latvia too, the proposals would apply only to Latvian citizens who were formerly classed as 'non-citizens' and later took Latvian citizenship via naturalization, and to persons holding dual nationality i.e. Latvian citizenship plus another citizenship.
"In the case of deprivation of citizenship, if the resident previously had the status of a non-citizen, restore it. In the case of dual citizens, the person will retain the citizenship of another country," the initiative says.
Upon receiving Latvian citizenship via naturalization, new citizens must take an oath of loyalty to the country. Therefore, by being convicted of a crime against the state, such persons would have broken their oath, it is reasoned.
The initiative does not call for stripping citizenship from Latvian citizens who were born Latvian citizens, which would likely create serious obstacles under international law by leaving them stateless.
The signature collection drive is online here. Details of who precisely is behind the signature collection drive are not provided on the ManaBalss.lv website, where the initiators are described simply as a 'likeminded group' of people.
If 10,000 verified signatures are successfully gathered, the initiative will be sent to Saeima (parliament) for review and to potentially kickstart the legislative process.
