Source: UK Gay News
RIGA, January 15, 2008 - 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.
The court ruled that on July 22, 2006, Dzelme attended an authorized anti-demonstration in Alberta Street where Mozaika, an organisation for LGBT people and their friends, was organising a press conference about the fact that the Riga City Council had denied permission for a pride parade.
The court also found that during that event, Dzelme threw a plastic bag containing a "stinking substance" at the car of a Mozaika member.
Dzelme, who is close to the LPP, denied his guilt, but he did confirm that he was at the location, saying that he went there to "protest against gay propaganda."
Some 20 members of the New Generation Church, including leader Aleksey Ledyayev, were in court to hear the verdict and sentence.
Mr. Turlais is one of the most homophobic lawmakers in the Saeima. He has called gays "bacteria" and "pigs". The LPP is noted for its homophobic stance in Latvian politics.
In today's trial, the prosecutor asked for a fine of 1,600 Ls (about $US3,400). But the sentence of 100 hours compulsory labour is widely seen as a more severe penalty.
Mr. Ledyayev and the New Generation Church are part of the Watchmen on the Walls group -- a particularly homophobic group which includes among it members the Americans Scott Lively, co-author of The Pink Swastika: Homosexuals and the Nazi Party, and former NFL player Ken Hutcherson. Both have been in Riga in the past year. Hutcherson runs the Antioch Bible Church in Redmond, Wash.
Full article: Lawmaker's Assistant Convicted of Throwing Faeces at Riga Gay Pride