Latvia: Transition to Latvian school education ruled constitutional

Latvia’s Constitutional Court has upheld the constitutionality of the transition to school education in Latvian only, LETA reports. The transition follows legislative amendments passed in October 2022. The court found that weekly tuition in minority languages and cultural history sufficiently supports the preservation of minority identities. Earlier, the European Court of Human Rights supported the…

Read More

Lithuania: MEP Tomaszewski takes “hate speech” case to ECHR

Lithuanian MEP Waldemar Tomaszewski has taken legal action at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) against Lithuanian authorities for discontinuing an investigation into derogatory comments made by TV presenter Arunas Valinskas, ELTA reports. Valinskas had called Tomaszewski, who leads the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania (LLRA), a “Colorado potato beetle” and suggested that…

Read More

Lithuania: ECHR grants damages to Saudi held at secret CIA prison

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has awarded EUR 100,000 in compensation to Saudi Arabian national Mustafa Al-Hawsawi for his unlawful detention at a secret CIA prison in Lithuania in 2005-2006, BNS reports. The court found that Lithuania was responsible for violating Al-Hawsawi’s rights. Lithuania will comply with the ECHR ruling and pay the…

Read More

Lithuania: Justice Ministry proposes scrapping anti-LGBT information law

Lithuania’s Ministry of Justice has proposed amendments to a controversial law that protects minors from information about LGBT people, LRT reports. The ministry proposed removing a provision stipulating that “information that denigrates family values and promotes a different concept of marriage and family” than the one enshrined in the Constitution is harmful to minors. The…

Read More