RIGA, February 12 (RAPSI) – The legal Commission of the Latvian parliament has passed the amendments to the law stipulating criminal liability for denial of the Soviet and Nazi occupation, RIA Novosti reported. The amendments were proposed by former Justice Minister Janis Bordans.

According to the bill, people may face up to 3 years in prison if found guilty of public denying the fact of the occupation of Latvia as well as its excuse and glorification.
Latvia's official position is that it was occupied by the USSR from 1940 through 1991. Russia, as a successor to the USSR, does not recognize the occupation. 

Russia has long been at odds with the Baltic states of Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia, as well as Poland, over what it sees as attempts to rewrite the history of World War II and diminish the Soviet role in the defeat of Nazi Germany.

While Russia maintains that the Red Army liberated the Baltic States from German invaders, many residents of the republics put the two occupations on a par, citing mass Stalin-era deportations and murders of the local population by Soviet secret police.

Latvia is still home to a significant proportion of Russians, estimated at about a quarter of the population. Many of them celebrate Victory Day on May 9.