Latvia's Free, but Her Press Isn't

Beginning of article

THE honeymoon is over for freedom of the press in Latvia. Having closed Pilsonis (The Citizen), a sometimes stridently antigovernment newspaper, on Oct. 19, Prime Minister Ivars Godmanis's administration is now looking for ways to clamp down on the circulation of foreign newspapers seen as hostile to Latvian interests.

According to recent Latvian press reports, the Latvian Minister of Justice, Viktors Skudra, is distressed that there are no legal mechanisms for stopping the distribution in Latvia of the Russian newspaper Den, which has urged Russians in Latvia to engage in passive resistance in everyday life and deliberate carelessness at their workplaces in order to …