The Saeima¹ has adopted and
the President has proclaimed the following law:

On Persons Placed without Justification in Psychiatric Medical Treatment Institutions of Latvia and USSR in the Time Period from 17 June 1940 to 21 August 1991

Section 1. Purpose and Scope of the Application of the Law

(1) The purpose of this Law is to restore the historic justice and the honour and respect of such persons who, in the time period from 17 June 1940 to 21 August 1991, were placed in psychiatric medical treatment institutions of Latvia and USSR (also psychiatric units of medical treatment institutions) unjustifiably without a court ruling for their political conviction, for political activity, for resisting totalitarian regimes, for religious beliefs, for racial or national belonging, for belonging to a specific class of the society, and also to liquidate the adverse legal consequences caused to such persons (hereinafter - the restoration of the status of a person).

(2) This Law shall apply to the persons who are citizens, non-citizens, or permanent residents of Latvia and who were unjustifiably placed in psychiatric medical treatment institutions of Latvia or USSR during the time period and due to the circumstances referred to in Paragraph one of this Section.

(3) This Law shall not concern the cases in which persons are to be rehabilitated in conformity with the law On Rehabilitation of Unlawfully Repressed Persons.

Section 2. Procedures for the Restoration of the Status of a Person

(1) A person who conforms to the criteria specified in Section 1 of this Law or his or her guardian shall submit a submission for restoring the status of a person to the Office of the Prosecutor of the Republic of Latvia according to the declared place of residence of such person. If the person has died, the relevant submission may be submitted by his or her relative or surviving spouse.

(2) If a person wants that changes in the personal data processing systems are made along with the restoration of the status of a person, he or she shall express such request in the submission referred to in Paragraph one of this Section.

(3) The submission received at the Office of the Prosecutor shall be examined in accordance with the procedures laid down in the Office of the Prosecutor Law, insofar as it has not been laid down otherwise in this Law.

(4) A prosecutor shall examine the submission and take a decision in the relevant case within six months from the day of receipt of the submission. If necessary, the prosecutor may extend the abovementioned time period for a period up to one year, but upon a written consent of the person - up to two years from the day of receipt of the submission.

(5) In order to take the decision to restore the status of a person or to refuse to restore the status of a person, a prosecutor shall request a written opinion of a commission of psychiatric experts, and also, if necessary, an opinion of other experts, including psychiatric experts.

(6) The work of the commission of psychiatric experts shall be organised by valsts sabiedrība ar ierobežotu atbildību "Rīgas Psihiatrijas un narkoloģijas centrs" [State limited liability company Riga Centre of Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine]. The commission of psychiatric experts shall provide an opinion on the basis of medical documentation handed over at its disposal by the prosecutor.

(7) The decision of the prosecutor to restore the status or a person or to refuse to restore the status of a person, fully or in its part, may be contested to the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Latvia. The decision of the Prosecutor General may be appealed to a court in accordance with the procedures laid down in the Administrative Procedure Law as an administrative act.

(8) If a prosecutor establishes the circumstances referred to in Section 1 of this Law and a submission for the relevant case has not been submitted, he or she shall commence an examination upon his or her own initiative by obtaining the consent of the person referred to in Paragraph one of this Section in advance.

Section 3. Consequences of the Restoration of the Status of a Person

(1) The circumstances due to which and the time period for which a person was unjustifiably placed in a psychiatric medical treatment institution of Latvia or USSR shall be indicated in the decision to restore the status of a person. The abovementioned decision may be the grounds for making corresponding changes in personal data processing systems if it has been established in the opinion of the expert commission referred to in Section 2, Paragraph five of this Law that making of such changes is justified.

(2) If the decision referred to in Paragraph one of this Section provides for making the changes in personal data processing systems, a prosecutor shall send such decision for making the corresponding changes in the register of patients suffering from certain diseases.

(3) The decision to restore the status of a person in itself shall not guarantee granting the status of a politically repressed person.

The Law shall come into force on 1 August 2013.

The Law has been adopted by the Saeima on 20 June 2013.

President A. Bērziņš

Rīga, 5 July 2013

¹ The Parliament of the Republic of Latvia

Translation © 2022 Valsts valodas centrs (State Language Centre)