OSCE PA: case of attempted censorship?
On March 1, 2023, as the Head of Delegation of the Saeima of the Republic of Latvia to the OSCE PA, I received a rather surprising letter from OSCE PA Secretary General Montella. In the interest of maintaining maximum transparency at a time when the administrative heads of the organisation seem to be interested in the exact opposite, I'm publishing both Secretary General's initial letter and my response that was sent to the Secretary General today, on March 10, 2023.
Last week I received a letter from Secretary General Montella expressing his dissatisfaction with some of the comments I made during Winter’s Meeting — Standing Committee session on February 24. While I welcome advice and a diversity of opinions, the Secretary General has even alluded that my comment that he has quoted may warrant legal action, even criminal prosecution. Allegations such as this, in my view, are an outrageous assault on the basic principles of parliamentarianism and are intended only as a tool to intimidate. Secretary General Montella has decided not to release the recording of the Standing Committee session precisely for this reason.
The PDF of the letter is available here.
I have prepared and sent a response letter, which I am now also publishing in full. Any conclusions you make, should be made on your own, but with having full information available.
The PDF is available here.
