Jan 15, 2008Quickie Link: Conviction on Assault at Riga Gay Pride 2006
By vanrozenheim
(Latvia) - An assistant to one of the members of the Latvian Saeima (Parliament) was found guilty today in a criminal case of “hooliganism” during the Riga Gay Pride in 2006 when participants had excrement thrown at them. Janis Dzelme, a 32-years old married man with two young children, was sentenced to 100 hours of “compulsory labour” by the Vidzeme District Court of the city of Riga for “gross public disorderliness as manifested in an obvious lack of respect toward the public by ignoring universally accepted norms of behaviour”. He works in the Saeima for Dainis Turlais of the Latvia First Party (LLP) and is a member of the New Generation Church, a homophobic Christian sect based in Riga with branches world-wide.
