Riga City Council Ethics Committee will not evaluate Ratnieks' 'monkeys' statement

The Riga City Council Ethics Committee on Wednesday decided not to accept for review a complaint concerning council member Edvards Ratnieks' use of the word 'monkeys' in a social media comment. Committee chair Līga Paegļkalna acknowledged that her personal opinion remains unchanged – she believes such statements should be assessed. However, the majority of the committee voted against it, and she respects that decision.

The issue arose after a video circulated on Twitter allegedly showing a migrant sexually harassing a woman. Ratnieks commented on the video using the term 'monkeys'. Later, the State Police announced that they had closed the criminal case into the incident, as the investigation found that no assault occurred. Police are now assessing whether the distribution of the video constituted public deception.