(J. T. A. Mail Service)
The Sejm has rejected a resolution introduced by the Jewish deputies which would have given Latvian citizenship to persons to whom it is at present refused because they failed for varions reasons to report for military service during the mobilization at the time of the Latvian was of liberation in 1918-20. This class of Staatenlose (men without a country) includes hundreds of Jews.
Deputy Meisel, who moved the resolution, urged its adoption on the ground that the amnesty law issued on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of Latvian independence, although extended to people who had committed offences of a military nature, did not affect the question of the Staatenlose.
The Minister of the Interior in his reply said that the intention of the amnesty law was to remit sentences imposed upon persons convicted of certain offences, but no one thought of adding to their rights. It was undesirable to make frequent changes in the citizenship law.
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