Two members of the Latvian parliament testified in support of two extremists on trial for inciting ethnic hatred, according to several Latvian news sources. Aivars Garda and Liga Muzikante are on trial for articles written in their newspaper “DDD” Prosecutors charge that these articles incite hatred against Jews (who are constantly referred to as “kikes”) and Russians (who in on article were called “cancerous cells” and in other articles are called “occupiers” who should be deported), according to a September 20, 2006 article by the Baltic News Service. Another article called for the deportation of Jewish leaders from Latvia, according to a September 22 article in the Estonian Russian language newspaper Molodyozh Estonii which also quoted the defendants' arguments in court defending their use of the word “kike” instead of “Jew.”

An article the following day in the Russian language Latvian daily Chas reported that two members of the Latvian parliament testified in favor of the defendants. Avride Ulme (who has a reporter for “DDD” on his parliamentary staff) and Aleksandr Kirshteins (who was recently expelled from his position on the parliament's international affairs committee for his antisemitic statements) were frequently applauded by Garda supporters as they defended the use of the word “kike” and argued that anti-Russian articles published by “DDD” were not harmful to society.

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