Belarusian Prosecutor General Andrei Shved on Friday launched a criminal probe against Riga Mayor Martins Stakis and Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics over an incident with a Belarusian national flag on the 2021 Ice Hockey World Championship
MINSK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th May, 2021) Belarusian Prosecutor General Andrei Shved on Friday launched a criminal probe against Riga Mayor Martins Stakis and Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics over an incident with a Belarusian national flag on the 2021 Ice Hockey World Championship.
Earlier this week, Stakis said that "a flag symbolizing a regime engaged in state terrorism does not belong in Riga" and city authorities replaced the Belarusian state flag with a red-white flag used by the Belarusian opposition.
"Having considered the reports about a grave crime against the interests of Belarus ... the Prosecutor General of Belarus Andrei Shved initiated a criminal case against Mayor of Riga Martins Stakis and Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics for committing deliberate actions aimed to incite ethnic hatred on the basis of nationality under part 3 of article 130 of the criminal code of Belarus," the prosecutor's office said on its official Telegram channel.
