Death penalty for listening to Kremlin propaganda
At first, "watching Kremlin propaganda could cost €700", but there is already historical evidence that "for repeatedly listening to enemy broadcasts and spreading their lies, farmer Roberts Brachmanis was sentenced to death and shot".
"From now on, the use of illegal software or devices, which are mostly used in Latvia to watch now-banned TV channels in one's home, will be punishable by a fine of €700," Neatkarīgā warned its readers on March 11.
Of course, this is not just about TV, which is considered by many to be as archaic as radio. This was immediately followed by the announcement by the National Electronic Mass Media Council that it had blocked 71 internet resources "due to threats to national security". This is only the beginning of an avalanche-like movement to ban as many as possible, identical to what Russia is doing on its side.
Punishing more, more and more
On March 15, the topic of bans was continued in Neatkarīgā with a report from the Saeima, which was trying to clarify whether to include a special article in the laws on criminal, rather than administrative, liability, and therefore also penalties for the use of symbols in public space, such as the letters Z or V, currently used in the context of Russia's military aggression in Ukraine. The argument was not about whether or not to criminalize. Of course it should be! The only difference of opinion was whether they should now adopt a new law on this. Seemingly the existing laws were sufficient to allow the police to detain and take any other action under criminal law against anyone who said or put the letter Z anywhere. Only the police do not understand how to enforce these laws. It can happen, after all, that the letter Z is used without any connection with Ukraine or in connection with Ukraine, but with the aim of honoring the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky. Such discussions have taken place in the Saeima committee, which has agreed to move them to the plenary session of the Saeima. This means that the introduction of the new bans and penalties is just a stone's throw away. Further, the practice of legislators or rulers of all times and nations has been to enforce prohibitions by increasing penalties. Of course, Latvia will not end up with executions as early as March 31 this year, which, in a not too distant period of Latvian history, marks the date of the conviction and shooting of Roberts Brachmanis.
Latvia still has a way to go before the death penalty for listening to banned words, either alone or in combination with watching banned TV programs and communicating what you hear or see there to others, which was also not crossed in the blink of an eye before. Last time, this path included the loss of Latvia's independence. A man was killed on the territory of what is now the Republic of Latvia, but not in the name of the Republic of Latvia. The only publicly announced death sentence for listening to Soviet propaganda broadcasts was passed and carried out by the German occupation authorities. At the moment, there is no information about the participation or not of Latvians in the capture, conviction and shooting of Roberts Brachmanis. Undoubtedly, they spread the news of this event in two Latvian-language newspapers "Tēvija" on April 14, 1945, and "Ventas Balss" on April 17.
Democratic countries, but still...
The Soviet occupation regime has left no public record of punishing anyone solely for listening to German or other radio broadcasts hostile to the Soviet Union. Punishments for "anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda" were numerous and severe, up to and including executions, both official and in fact, sending people to forced labor in Siberia for periods that they could not survive. Judging by the cases in which such sentences were announced publicly, listening to enemy radio broadcasts was not regarded by the Soviet repressive authorities as sufficient grounds for punishment merely for listening to them. This was different from the Nazi regime, where such punishments were introduced with the outbreak of the Second World War: "The dissemination of foreign radio news is punishable by forced labor and the death penalty. All violators of this order will be punished by special courts, and the apparatus will be confiscated", the then still free Latvian newspaper "Jaunākās Ziņas" reported on September 2, 1939, about the decision of the German Council of Ministers of National Defense. On December 19 of the same year, the newspaper confirmed that "German courts have again severely punished a number of citizens who had been secretly listening to foreign transmitters". On January 16, 1940, "Ventas Balsas" reported that "in Klaipėda, a case of 13 Lithuanian farm workers has been tried, in which 12 men and one woman were prosecuted for having listened to Kaunas and other foreign radio messages. The court sentenced them to 6-18 months' imprisonment for this offence." It should be recalled that the city, which belongs to Lithuania now and after the First World War, was seized (or regained - Lithuania had previously taken more than it was entitled to under the Treaty of Versailles) by Germany on March 22, 1939.
At that time, bans on listening to foreign radio broadcasts became common practice, not a hallmark of the Nazi regime. On May 11, 1940, under the headline "King Albert's son raises his spear to fulfil his oath", "Latvijas Kareivis" put together what the parliaments of Belgium and Holland had decided immediately after the German invasion. These included "listening to German radio news is no longer allowed. On the other hand, Belgian, English and French radio programs are allowed."
It is all the more remarkable that the bans on listening to foreign stations in Europe were introduced by countries with a halo of exemplary democracy, not at the very moment when the Germans were on top of them. This is all revealed by the Latvian specialized publication "Rīgas Radiofona Programma" from the early 1930s, which used to supplement its main text - i.e. the radio program - with industry news from all over the world. And here, on May 7, 1933, an article under the telling headline "In Czechoslovakia it is forbidden to listen to radio performances of unfriendly countries" revealed how that country had tried to present the ban in such a way that you could listen, as it were, but... but it's better not to:
- Radio subscribers are forbidden to disseminate such performances by foreign broadcasters which, by their content or nature, are intended to disturb public order and peace, to promote class hatred, or are directed against the unity and inviolability of the Czechoslovak State, against the democratic-republican order and constitution of the country. The dissemination of radio broadcasts within the meaning of this Order shall be understood to include not only the playing of such broadcasts in public places and localities, but also in an apartment if a non-family member is present. Violation of this Order shall be punishable by imprisonment and, in addition, cancellation of the radio subscription.
The same publication slightly later, on July 23, expanded on this theme in a publication entitled "Illegal listening to foreign radio performances in Czechoslovakia and Austria": "Both these countries have published bans on listening to performances by foreign stations which are detrimental to the interests of the state. In Austria, such a ban has only just been issued, but in Czechoslovakia, where it has been in force for several weeks, there have already been first violators. In Marienbad, for example, a large radio set was confiscated because it was used to listen to public speeches by foreign statesmen (meaning Germans). In another place, a fine of 300 crowns or 7 days in jail was imposed on a citizen who played political speeches from German stations with his window open."
These democracies turned out to be only a little behind the militarist-ruled Japan. On February 7, 1933, the “Rīgas Radiofona Programma” had already reported that "French sources say that the Japanese government has banned the construction and use of radio sets that can receive distant stations. This prohibition is intended to prevent Soviet and Chinese radiophonic stations from transmitting hostile messages to Japan to the uninformed masses of the people."
How to properly take away antennas or internet connections
It is entirely possible that people were killed by the Soviet occupation regime on reasonable or unfounded suspicion of listening to German radio broadcasts between the German invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, and the expulsion of Soviet troops and the administrative apparatus based on them from the whole of Latvia by July 7. This could have been done by executing the Order of June 23, 1941, to the Baltic separate military district: "By June 24 17:00 to remove all aerial antennas, whoever they belonged to". Furthermore: "Failure to comply with this order, spreading false rumors, as in all matters and crimes against the defense, the persons guilty shall be deemed enemies of the people and shall be punished with the severity of all wartime laws." The text of the order was published in Latvian on June 25, 1941, in "Cīņa" and in a few other newspapers that the Soviet regime was still able to publish. After the change of occupation powers, the whole of Latvia appeared to be covered with the corpses of people, many of whom will never be known again who they were, who killed them and why they were killed.
The Germans who took over Latvia came here with the ban on listening to foreign radio stations, which was already in place and known to Latvians. The people here were reminded of this as often as possible in the most effective way - by the example of punishing those who broke the ban. On April 30, 1942, "Malienas Ziņas" under the headline "It is forbidden to listen to enemy stations!" announced that "for disobeying this order and spreading rumors, the German Special Court in Riga sentenced Ā. Rode with 5 years in the house of correction and 3 years in the house of correction for J. Brēks"; on April 1, 1943, "Tēvija" continued that "the accountant Vincents Karveckis was sentenced by the German Special Court on March 30 to 5 years of hard labor... because he repeatedly listened to English and Russian news in January and February this year. On March 17, the Special Court in Cēsis also sentenced Marta Vītola to 2 years of hard labor... for listening to the Moscow broadcasts and further distribution", etc.
In mid-April 1943, all Latvian-language newspapers in Latvia were sent and printed the material "Which stations are allowed to listen": German stations from Germany itself and from the territories still occupied by Germany: Baranovichi in the east, Belgrade in the south, Bergen in the north, Bordeaux in the west...
From then on, interest in the banned stations grew in proportion as the German occupation zone grew - as the front approached Latvia too. On October 19 1943, "Tēvija" still took the trouble to explain, long and sincerely, that "Undermining the strength of the people is a crime" and that listening to banned radio stations is one of the forms of such a crime:
- In his reasoning for the verdict, the President of the Court, Dr. Kniep, pointed out that in this case deliberate listening had been established and that therefore the punishment could not be light. In general, listeners of news from banned broadcasters - especially in Moscow - cannot expect light sentences. We are already in the 5th year of the war and listening is treason against the fighting front. If defendant O. asked for his sentence to be lightened because of his poor health - his nerves - then he should have taken more care of his nerves than to worry them with Moscow rumors and disturbing news. At a time when all forces are concentrated on the fight, it is unacceptable that there should be people who, by unconcerned actions, try to increase the number of victims of the "war of nerves".
Further still, the severity of the punishments was pushing forward as inexorably as the German front was falling back, momentarily caught between a few more defensible points in Kurzeme. There, then, a man whose list of crimes included radio listening as a major, if not the only, component was shot by an order of the court. Although they are called crocodile tears, tears were soon shed for him by Anna Sakse in her publication "Prison in the Kurzeme Fortress" in the June 1945 issue of "Propagandists un Aģitators": "To find out the truth, the population secretly listened to Soviet radio messages, even though this was connected with danger to their lives. Mechanic Ed. Losiņš was sentenced to imprisonment in a concentration camp for an extended period, while on March 31, farmer Roberts Brachmanis was sentenced to death and shot. This is the fear of the conquerors, that only the population should not know the truth about the situation at the front."
Sakse's writings should be clarified that people listened to the stations of the opposite sides in order to try to arrive at the truth themselves by confronting the opposite statements of the opposite sides. Yes, people have a drive that sometimes makes them risk their lives. The people of the Republic of Latvia are not yet being asked to pay such high stakes for even an illusory attempt to come to terms with what the participants in the Russia-Ukraine war themselves do not yet know. There is, however, no reason to expect that this truth is to be found in the middle between what is claimed by one side and the other. That is why citizens are strongly advised and threatened with fines not to look any further than what one of the belligerents says.
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