24 ŽDANOKA v. LATVIA JUDGMENT whether they had been members of that party. Equally, the CPL could not be accused of having attempted to overthrow the democratic regime. With regard to the events of January 1991, the applicant repeated her own version of events (see paragraphs 21 and 23-24 above). She submitted a copy of the appeal by the CPL parliamentary group, published on 21 January 1991, containing a denial that the party had been involved in organising the armed incursions and deploring “political provocation ... misleading world opinion”. In any event, the applicant herself had never been a member of the Latvian Public Rescue Committee. As to the events of 19 August 1991, she contended that there was evidence exculpating the CPL. 78. The applicant considered that the Republic of Latvia’s ambiguous constitutional status during the period in question was an important factor to be taken into consideration. In that connection, she noted that the Declaration of Independence of 4 May 1990 had established a transition period so that institutional links with the USSR could be gradually severed. In reality, it had been a period of diarchy, during which Soviet and Latvian constitutional and legislative texts, and even some Soviet and Latvian institutions, coexisted and functioned in parallel throughout the national territory. The applicant acknowledged that the Constitutional Law of 21 August 1991 had ended the transition period; however, it was impossible to declare null and void the very existence of that period. Since the legitimacy of the institutions which were then functioning on the territory of Latvia was not clearly established, it was not correct to speak of a coup d’état in the proper meaning of the term. 79. Nor could the CPL be criticised for having taken a pro-Soviet and anti-independence stance during the transition period. While acknowledging that the CPL and she herself had declared their firm support for a Latvia which enjoyed greater sovereignty but remained an integral part of the USSR, the applicant observed that, at the material time, there was a very wide range of opinions on how the country should develop politically, even among those members of parliament who supported independence in principle. In addition, leaders of foreign States had also been divided on this subject: some had been very sceptical about the liberation of the Baltic States and had preferred to adopt an approach based on non-interference in the Soviet Union’s internal affairs. In short, in supporting one of the possible avenues for development, the CPL had in fact exercised its right to pluralism of political opinions, a right which was inherent in a democratic society. 80. The applicant considered ill-founded and unsubstantiated the Government’s argument that to allow persons who had been members of the CPL after 13 January 1991 to become members of the national parliament would be likely to compromise national security. She pointed out that the impugned restriction had not existed before 1995 and that, in the first parliamentary elections following restoration of the 1922 Constitution, three