History of the Jews in Latvia International Refugee Organization (IRO), and other relief organizations for Nazi victims, and some of them immigrated to the U.S. and other countries abroad. Nevertheless, there were also Latvians who risked their lives in order to save Jews. One such, Jānis Lipke, helped to save several dozen Jews of the Riga ghetto by providing them with hideouts. The Jewish population of Latvia declined from 28,300 in 1979 to 22,900 in 1989, when 18,800 of its Jews lived in the capital Riga. Part of this was due to a high rate of emigration to Israel; the Soviet Union allowed limited numbers of
Capital punishment in Latvia capital punishment for wartime murder, until it abolished it in 2012. Latvia acceded to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in 2013. Capital punishment in Latvia Capital punishment in Latvia was abolished for ordinary crimes in 1999 and for crimes committed during wartime in 2012. Latvia is party to several international instruments which ban the capital punishment. Latvia regained independence in 1991 after the fall of the Soviet Union. Subsequently, the death penalty in civilian cases was reserved for murder and the only method of execution, as during Soviet times, was shooting with