Back in August 2005, the Latvian government set up a special commission to examine the legacy of Soviet oppression. The commission was to get a firm count of the victims of Communism, determine where mass graves are located, gather information about political repression and deportations, and figure out the total losses to Latvia and its population.

But then the global economy tanked. Latvia’s government, in an effort to stay solvent, slashed its budget. The commission was among efforts halted when the government in June 2009 cut LVL 500 milllion in spending.

The commission is known formally in Latvian as “Komisija PSRS totalitārā komunistiskā okupācijas režīma upuru skaita un masu kapu vietu noteikšanai, informācijas par represijām un masveida deportācijām apkopošanai un Latvijas valstij un tās iedzīvotājiem nodarīto zaudējumu aprēķināšanai.”

On paper the commission still exists. And some politicians in the Saeima have not forgotten about it. Recently, the right-wing National Association (Nacionālā apvienība “Visu Latvijai!” – “Tēvzemei un Brīvībai/LNNK”) poked Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis about plans to revive the commission’s work, possibly even this year.

Dombrovskis, in a Feb. 10 letter (PDF, 424 K), replied that renewing the commission’s work is not planned for 2011. He reminded the nationalists that the government faces another LVL 50 million in spending cuts this year.

“At the same time, I want to emphasize that the commission has not been liquidated, but its work for now has been halted,” the prime minister wrote. “The question will be revisited after the country’s fiscal and economic situation improves, insuring the possibility of renewing the commission’s work and allocating budget resources.”

A week and a half after Latvian President Valdis Zatlers stepped into the dual citizenship debate, a Saeima commission was scheduled Feb. 9 to begin discussion on his proposals. Meanwhile, two Latvian diaspora organizations have voiced their support for his suggested amendments to the Citizenship Law.

Zatlers on Feb. 1 sent a nine-page letter to Saeima Chairwoman Solvita Āboltiņa in which he told the parliament that it is time to fix the law.

The Saeima’s Executive Commission on the Citizenship Law has been charged with examining the president’s proposals.

The president in his letter said dual citizenship should be allowed for four groups of people: those who left occupied Latvia and their descendants; Latvian citizens who have taken citizenship in European Union and NATO members states; children born to Latvian citizens living abroad; and people who have become citizens of another country through marriage.

Under the Citizenship Law’s transitional rules, exiles and their descendants could register as dual citizens up to July 1995. Since then, dual citizenship has been banned.

Zatlers also proposed that the path to Latvian citizenship should be eased for children born to non-citizens and stateless persons.

The World Federation of Free Latvians (Pasaules brīvo latviešu apvienība, or PBLA) and the European Latvian Association (Eiropas Latviešu apvienība, or ELA) both back the president’s proposals regarding dual citizenship.

“The PBLA wishes to express its support for the president’s initiative to restore dual citizenship status for the political exile and its descendants and for new Latvian emigrants (those Latvian citizens, who now have left to work and live abroad),” Jānis Andersons, head of the association’s representative office in Rīga, told Latvians Online in a Feb. 3 e-mail.

Similarly, the ELA in a Feb. 6 press release lent its support to Zatlers’ proposals.

“The ELA many times earlier has expressed a number of proposals to the Latvian government and officials about how to foster long-term relations with the Latvian diaspora, which is important to both sides,” ELA Chairperson Dace Lutere-Timmele wrote in the press release.

The proposed changes to the Citizenship Law are relevant to a large number of people, she wrote.

The president’s proposals are not the only amendments to the Citizenship Law now before the Saeima. The National Association (Nacionālā apvienība “Visu Latvijai!” – “Tēvzemei un Brīvībai/LNNK”) on Jan. 24 introduced legislation that also would allow dual citizenship. The bill on Jan. 27 was referred to the parliament’s Law Commission, but that body has yet to take up the legislation.

The government of Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis, which included restoration of dual citizenship in its declaration, has yet to make its own proposal. However, MP Rasma Kārkliņa—who like Dombrovskis belongs to the Unity (Vienotība) bloc—wrote in a Jan. 20 blog that the issue is being discussed by the fraction.

Mārtiņš Freimanis, lead singer of the Liepāja-based rock and pop music group Tumsa, has died from complications caused by the flu, Latvian media reported Jan. 27. He was 33.

Freimanis, who was born Feb. 7, 1977, in Liepāja, also was known as a composer, music producer, actor and poet.

He died in the Rīga-based Infectology Center of Latvia, where he had been admitted Jan. 18.

Freimanis became Tumsa’s lead singer in 1994, according to the website of MICREC, the recording house that released the band’s albums. Freimanis composed many of Tumsa’s hit tunes, including on the band’s most recent album, Suns, released in late 2008.

He also wrote songs for other performers and became involved with Latvian efforts to win the Eurovision Song Contest. In 2003, he joined with singers Lauris Reiniks and Yana Kay to form the trio F.L.Y., which in 2004 represented Latvia in the song contest.

One of his most recent musical collaboration was co-writing the lyrics to Reiniks’ big summer hit of 2010, “Es skrienu.”

Freimanis and Tumsa also recently joined with Russian singer Yulia Chicherina on a recording project and plans for a concert tour. A video of their Russian-language love song “Максимум ты” may be viewed on YouTube.

In 2005, Freimanis starred in the feature film Man patīk, ka meitene skumst.

Two years later, Freimanis took on a role in the popular television soap opera Neprāta cena. He played Edgars Pētersons, a second-generation British Latvian who visits his ancestral homeland with his father and begins a romantic relationship with a local. He also wrote one of the show’s title songs, “Satīties sapīties,” performing a duet with singer Ella.

On stage, Freimanis is remembered for his title role in the 1999 rock opera “Kaupēn, mans mīļais,” performed by the Liepāja Theatre.

A collection of Freimanis’s poetry, including lyrics from songs performed by Tumsa, was published in 2004 under the title Zālīte truša dvēselei.

“Mārtiņš Freimanis has passed unjustly early,” according to a statement released by MICREC, “but we have no doubt that evidence of his talent will live and fill the hearts of many people with joy for years to come.”

A funeral service for Freimanis is scheduled at 3 p.m. Feb. 3 in Rīgas krematorijā,  Varoņu 3a, Rīga.