Free speech in Latvia?

Is it under fire?

If you’re upset with Latvia’s Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis, it’s probably best you don’t write and tell him so. State security police visited the home of Latvian citizen, Marija Vidina, who was described in the press as “an old lady,” to issue her a warning against possible “threats” made to the prime minister.

Vidina write the prime minister regularly. In this letter, Vidina wrote that Prime Minister Kalvitis was either “a complete idiot or had been hypnotized by Putin.” She also noted that President Vaira Vike-Freiberga’s recent move blocking two amendments to national security laws have “given a muzzle to the prime minister.” The security police warned her that is unacceptable to write to the PM in such a manner, though the police admit that no actual threat to state officials were established during the investigation, but that the “content of the letter reveals violation of a person’s dignity and reputation.” The security police’s press service confirmed they acted by request of the PM’s office.

City Paper recently ran a story about the “Putinization of Estonia.” Seems we got the wrong country, after all.