6 ŽDANOKA v. LATVIA JUDGMENT democratic and politically independent Republic of Latvia?” According to figures supplied by the Government, 87.5% of all residents registered on the electoral roll voted, and 73.6% of them replied in the affirmative. According to the Government, this was a genuine national referendum, confirming the support of the overwhelming majority of the Latvian population for the idea of national independence. The applicant maintains that it was a simple consultative vote and contests the above-mentioned turnout, and thus the very legitimacy of the plebiscite. 4. The events of August and September 1991 25. On 19 August 1991 there was an attempted coup in Moscow. The self-proclaimed “National State of Emergency Committee” announced that Mr Gorbachev, President of the USSR, was suspended from his duties, declared itself the sole ruling authority and imposed a state of emergency “in certain regions of the USSR”. 26. On the same day the Central Committee and the Riga Committee of the CPL declared their support for the National State of Emergency Committee and set up an “operational group” to provide assistance to it. According to the Government, on 20 August 1991 the CPL, the Līdztiesība parliamentary bloc and various other organisations signed and disseminated an appeal entitled “Godājamie Latvijas iedzīvotāji!” (“Honourable residents of Latvia!”), urging the population to comply with the requirements of the state of emergency and not to oppose the measures imposed by the National State of Emergency Committee in Moscow. According to the applicant, the CPL’s participation in all those events has not been proved; in particular, the members of the Līdztiesība bloc were taking part in parliamentary debates over two consecutive days and were not even aware that such an appeal was to be issued. 27. This coup also failed. On 21 August 1991, the Latvian Supreme Council enacted a constitutional law on the status of the Republic of Latvia as a State and proclaimed the country’s immediate and absolute independence. Paragraph 5 of the Declaration of 4 May 1990, concerning the transition period, was repealed. 28. By a decision of 23 August 1991, the Supreme Council declared the CPL unconstitutional. The following day, the party’s activities were suspended and the Minister of Justice was instructed “to investigate the unlawful activities of the CPL and to put forward ... a motion on the possibility of authorising its continued operations”. On the basis of the proposal by the Minister of Justice, the Supreme Council ordered the party’s dissolution on 10 September 1991. 29. In the meantime, on 22 August 1991 the Supreme Council set up a parliamentary committee to investigate the involvement of members of the Līdztiesība bloc in the coup. On the basis of that committee’s final report,