Latvian citizens' right to armed resistance to be codified

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The Latvian parliamentary committee on defense, interior affairs and corruption prevention on May 22 in principle supported legislative amendments that would confirm and codify citizens' right to armed resistance in time of war.

According to the parliament's press service, the amendments to the National Defense Law have been proposed to improve the legal framework for national defense. The bill lays down comprehensive basic principles of national defense and specifies the situations in which the Cabinet of Ministers can make the decision about mobilization of National Guard members and reserve soldiers. In case of threat, they can be mobilized for a period of up to 72 hours to deal with a threat already in its early phases.

Explanatory notes provided by the Defense Ministry say the experience gained in exercises dubbed "KRISTAPS" has shown that "The rapid involvement of National Guards and regular soldiers in the initial phase of dealing with the threat would prevent further development of threat dynamics, thus providing additional tools to overcome the threat in its early phase."

The proposed comprehensive basic principles of the national defense provide that, in case of war or military invasion, not only the Latvian National Armed Forces but also the state and municipal institutions, legal entities and private individuals have to take measures for military and civilian defense, including armed resistance, civil disobedience and refusal to collaborate with unlawful authorities not to cooperate with illegitimate administrative institutions and aggressor armed units.

"Individual armed resistance can be carried out by a citizen, knowing the security risks and acting in accordance with the provisions of national and international law," explanatory notes say.

In the event of war, Latvian citizens will have to obey orders from the National Armed Forces and NATO or EU units helping the National Armed Forces to defend Latvia, as well as orders from other state and municipal institutions responsible for overcoming threats to the Latvian state.

The bill stipulates that citizens have the right, in the event of a military incursion, to exercise civic disobedience by opposing illegal government institutions and aggressor armed units, displaying armed resistance to aggressor armed units and providing all kinds of support to civil disobedience and armed resistance actors, as well as to the National Armed Forces and their support units from NATO or EU Member States providing support to the military defense of Latvia.

The draft law says it is possible to overcome the military threat only with the involvement of the Latvian population in state defense. Changes in the law are necessary because the current regulation is general and insufficient, namely, it does not provide for a clear regulatory framework for citizens who are willing to engage in armed resistance or civil disobedience in situations where legitimate state power and administration institutions have been eliminated in an undemocratic manner.

Citizens will be expected to resist and will have a duty not to cooperate with illegal units "except in cases where refusal to cooperate seriously compromises a person's fundamental rights," according to the proposals.

Interestingly, even though most of the legislation concerns Latvian citizens per se (only citizens can be members of the National Armed Forces' structures), the explanatory notes are careful to point out that all Latvian residents could play a part in resisting occupation.

"Since every resident of Latvia can participate in a campaign of resistance in various ways and with different tasks, it is fundamentally important that the state policy and the related normative base fully coincide with the activities of the population and legal interests in the area of ​​armed resistance and civic disobedience.

"The draft law uses the term "resident", because comprehensive state protection implies the involvement of all society. For example, the Mobilization Law states that mobilization can be extended to both citizens and non-citizens. At the same time, the obligations provided for in the draft law do not apply to those citizens who can not be involved in comprehensive national defense duties in accordance with the international legal norms binding on Latvia," the notes say.

The Latvian parliament is yet to discuss the bill in three readings before it can be adopted into law.

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