Latvian security police, detained Dmitrijs Smirnovs, a 32-year-old economist,for questioning the stability of Latvia’s 26 banks and its currency

The Latvian security police, who usually track down spies and terrorist threats, detained Dmitrijs Smirnovs, a 32-year-old economist, for questioning the stability of Latvia’s 26 banks and its currency, the lats. Freed after two days of questioning, he is still under investigation for spreading “untruthful information” and has been ordered not to leave the country.“All I said was what everyone knows,” he said. He is not alone. A popular musician was also recently hauled in for questioning after cracking a joke about the banks’ stability at one of his concerts.
Latvia has long been prickly about financial stability. In 1995, when the country’s biggest bank collapsed, depositors lost £500m and its senior executives were imprisoned.Last year there were rumours that the lats was about to be devalued, prompting a rush into the euro. The security police were called in to investigate the source of the rumours and the culprit turned out to be a drunk, who was released after questioning.This prompted calls for tougher penalties against “reckless” financial chatter and the law was amended to allow jail terms of up to six years for disseminating false information about the financial system.When that system began to crumble in the autumn, police agents began scanning internet chatrooms, newspapers and telephone text messages for economic pessimism. Smirnovs got into trouble for predicting serious problems for Latvia, telling a local newspaper in October: “All I can advise is: don’t keep money in banks and don’t keep money in lats.”Yet his gloom seems justified. Last month Latvia took over Parex, the largest locally owned bank, to save it from collapse. It denied that it needed aid but is now in talks with the International Monetary Fund.