ŽDANOKA v. LATVIA JUDGMENT 7 on 9 July 1992 the Supreme Council revoked fifteen members’ right to sit in Parliament. The applicant was not one of those concerned. 5. Subsequent developments involving the applicant 30. In February 1993 the applicant became chairperson of the Movement for Social Justice and Equal Rights in Latvia (Kustība par sociālo taisnīgumu un līdztiesību Latvijā), which later became a political party, Līdztiesība (“Equal rights”). 31. On 5 and 6 June 1993 parliamentary elections were held in accordance with the restored Constitution of 1922. For the first time since Latvian independence had been regained, the population elected the parliament (Saeima), which took over from the Supreme Council. It was at that point that the applicant’s term of office as a member of parliament expired. As a result of the Latvian authorities’ refusal to include her on the residents’ register as a Latvian citizen, she was unable to take part in those elections, in the following parliamentary elections held in 1995, or in the municipal elections of 1994. Following an appeal by the applicant, the courts recognised her as holding Latvian nationality by right in January 1996, on the ground of her being a descendant of a person who had possessed Latvian nationality before 1940. The courts therefore instructed the electoral authorities to register the applicant and to supply her with the appropriate documents. 6. Criminal proceedings against two former leaders of the CPL 32. By a final judgment of the Supreme Court of 27 July 1995, A.R. and O.P., formerly the most senior officials of the CPL, were found guilty of attempting to overthrow the legitimate authorities of independent Latvia by violent means. The judgment accepted, inter alia, the following circumstances as historical facts: (a) Having failed to obtain a majority on the Supreme Council in the democratic elections of March 1990, the CPL and the other organisations listed in section 5(6) of the Parliamentary Elections Act decided to take the unconstitutional route and set up the Latvian Public Rescue Committee, which attempted to usurp power and to dissolve the Supreme Council and the legitimate government of Latvia. Such actions were contrary not only to Article 2 of the 1922 Constitution, which stated that sovereign power was vested in the people, but also to Article 2 of the Constitution of the Latvian SSR, which conferred authority to act on behalf of the people on elected councils (soviets) alone. (b) The Central Committee of the CPL provided financial support to the special unit of the Soviet police which was entirely responsible for the fatal incidents of January 1991 (see paragraphs 22-23 above); at the same time,