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Latvian defenders of Russian schools challenge Latvian-only tuition in European Court

The applicants are parents who demand that the decision of the Latvian authorities be recognized as a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights

VILNIUS, November 25. /TASS/. The Latvian Association for Support of Schools with Russian Language of Instruction (LAShOR) has sent nine applications to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to challenge the full transition of the country’s schools and kindergartens to Latvian, Delfi reported.

The applicants are parents who demand that the decision of the Latvian authorities be recognized as a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights. "With the complete cessation of general education in Russian, language discrimination turns into discrimination based on ethnicity. <...> All people who signed the applications consider themselves Russians. The new regulation made it impossible to study in Russian," the portal wrote, quoting the association’s head, Igor Pimenov.

The state has no right to deprive pupils of the opportunity to study in their native language, Pimenov noted, calling the ban "interference with one’s private and family life in violation of the convention." Studying Russian in additional lessons does not equal receiving an education in this language, he added. "This is a pale imitation of education in the form of uncontrolled, uncertified additional lessons," Pimenov said.

In September 2022, deputies of the Latvian Saeima (unicameral parliament) adopted amendments to the law On Education, according to which teaching in all Latvian schools and kindergartens will be conducted in Latvian starting with the 2025-2026 academic year. In July, the country's Constitutional Court recognized the full transition in schools and kindergartens to the state language as legal.

In September 2023, the ECHR did not recognize the drastic reduction of general education in Russian as discrimination. The Latvian authorities spoke of the need to "foster the state language," and the court considered their arguments justified.

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the ECHR took part in the lawlessness by making the discriminatory education reform legitimate and thus infringing on the rights of the Russian-speaking population of Latvia. She pointed out that the biased decisions issued by the ECHR "are no longer associated with the principles of justice and impartiality, but are rather motivated by a political context.".

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