Tatjana Ždanoka

Ždanoka became politically active in the late 1980s during the perestroika, first as a member of the Popular Front, then as one of the leaders of the Interfront, a political organization opposing Latvia's independence from the Soviet Union. In 1989, she was elected to the Riga City Council, and in 1990, to the Supreme Soviet of the Latvian SSR. From 1971 to 1991 Ždanoka was also a member of the Communist Party of Latvia,[2] but maintains she was "not part of the party hierarchy."[5]

From 1995 till 2004 Ždanoka was co-chairwoman of the Latvian Human Rights Committee (a member of FIDH).[6] She has also been one of the leaders of Equal Rights since it foundation in 1993 and of the For Human Rights in United Latvia alliance.[7]

In 1999, Ždanoka was banned from running for the Latvian parliament Saeima and deprived of her seat on Riga City Council, because she had participated in two seats of the Communist Party's Audit Committee after the party leadership called for a coup against the elected government of the Latvian SSR in January 1991.[2] Subsequently, she sued Latvia in the European Court of Human Rights.[2] Ždanoka argued that the Communist Party was still legal until September 1991 and she had remained because she believed the Communist Party would be part of the democratic, multi-party system and "considered it dishonest to leave one's party because of hard times."[5]

With the court case pending, the Latvian parliament decided not to impose restrictions on former members of the Communist Party in the 2004 European Parliament election. Ždanoka was elected to the European Parliament in June 2004 and won the court case a few days later with a margin of 5-2.[8] Latvia appealed the decision to the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights on the grounds that Latvia's emergence from totalitarian rule brought about by the occupation of Latvia had not been sufficiently taken into account, and on March 16, 2006, the court ruled 13-4 that Ždanoka's rights had not been violated.[9]

In 2004, she ran successfully for MEP as a candidate of the largest Russian political bloc in Latvia[7] becoming a member of the Greens–European Free Alliance fraction in the European Parliament.[10] In 2005, Ždanoka became one of the founders of the EU Russian-Speakers' Alliance.[11] She also won a seat in 2009.[3]

On 11 March 2014, Ždanoka and her party organized a rally at the European Commission Representation in Riga in support of the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, participated by about 200 people.[12] In May, Ždanoka proposed European Council to classify Ukrainian political bloc Right Sector as a terrorist organization.[13] In response, Ukrainian Congress of Latvia petitioned Ministry of Justice of Latvia to declare the political activities of Ždanoka and her party as anti-constitutional.[14]

A submission was made by another Latvian MEP, Kārlis Šadurskis, to the Latvian state prosecutor to investigate Ždanoka for undermining the Latvian state in her support for Russia. In his submission, Šadurskis pointed to her participation at events organised by "Essence of Time" that advocates the restoration of the USSR.[15] The application of Šadurskis was rejected by Security Police who did not find a crime in Ždanoka's actions.[16]

In 2016, Ždanoka voted against the European Parliament resolution of 23 November that condemned the use of disinformation and propaganda by Russia and Islamist terrorist organisations and called for strengthening EU’s "strategic communication" task force, as well as investing more in awareness raising, education, online and local media, investigative journalism and information literacy.[17] Prior to the vote she distributed a letter to other MEPs, saying that the resolution crosses "all red lines" and that Russia's state-sponsored news and information channels are no different to Western media that exhibit "double standards", recommending them to watch Russia Today and form their own opinion of the channel.[18]

In January 2018 Ždanoka left European Parliament and returned to Latvian politics with the intention of running for 2018 Latvian parliamentary election in October.[19] She was named Latvian Russian Union's #1 ticket for Vidzeme Region, but was removed from the list of candidates by the Latvia's Central Election Commission on the same basis that barred her from running in 1999.[20][21] Ždanoka contested it in the Administrative District Court, but the court upheld the decision made by the Central Election Commission.[22][23] Ždanoka applied to the European Court of Human Rights, which has communicated her application to the Latvian government in 2021.[24]

In the 2019 European Parliament election her party received 6.24% of the votes, which gave it one seat at the European Parliament that, again, was filled by Ždanoka who personally received 18,098 plusses and was crossed out 739 times.[25] She started serving as vice-chairperson in the Petitions Committee and replacement member in the Employment and Public Affairs Committee and named youth and pre-pension employment, adoption of benefits for young families and equalization of social rights in the European Union as her priorities.[26]

On 2 March 2022, she was one of 13 MEPs who voted against condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[27] For this she was eventually forced to leave the European Greens–European Free Alliance group.[28][29] On 13 May, Ždanoka and six other people were detained in the Riga Town Hall Square at an unauthorized protest against the demolition of the Monument to the Liberators of Soviet Latvia and Riga from the German Fascist Invaders.[30]

On 15 September 2022, she was one of 16 MEPs who voted against condemning President Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua for human rights violations, in particular the arrest of Bishop Rolando Álvarez. [31][32]