Alina Lebedeva
{{Short description|Russian-Latvian political activist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}}
Alina Lebedeva ({{langx|ru|Алина Лебедева}}, {{langx|lv|Alīna Ļebedeva}}, born 1985) is a former Latvian Russian politician and activist known for slapping then-Charles, Prince of Wales with three red flowers in 2001 at age 16. In other actions, she allegedly set fire to a door of the Latvian Ministry of Education and was arrested for a political protest in Moscow.
Early life
Lebedeva is of Russian ethnicity and grew up in Daugavpils, Latvia.{{cite book |last1=Jobson |first1=Robert |title=Charles at Seventy - Thoughts, Hopes & Dreams |date=2018 |publisher=John Blake |isbn=978-1786068873}}{{cite news |last1=Barkāns |first1=Elmārs |title=Ko tagad dara bijušie skaļie "nacboli": Neļķu Alīna, Aijo Beness, Mauzeris… |url=https://jauns.lv/raksts/zinas/138172-ko-tagad-dara-bijusie-skalie-nacboli-nelku-alina-aijo-beness-mauzeris |accessdate=20 April 2020 |work=Jauns.lv |date=15 November 2012 |language=lv |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181018050455/http://jauns.lv/raksts/zinas/138172-ko-tagad-dara-bijusie-skalie-nacboli-nelku-alina-aijo-beness-mauzeris |archive-date=18 October 2018 |url-status=live }}
Prince Charles incident
On November 8, 2001, Charles, then-Prince of Wales, made an official visit to Latvia.{{cite news|title=Алина Лебедева из Даугавпилса извиняется перед наследником британской короны|url=https://ria.ru/20011120/18832.html|website=RIA Novosti|language=ru|date=2001-11-20|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210116065610/https://ria.ru/20011120/18832.html|archivedate=2021-01-16}}
Lebedeva, then aged 16 (Lebedeva at that time was a schoolgirl of the 10th grade, Daugavpils 9th Secondary School{{cite web|title=Только не спрашивайте об Алине|url=http://www.biznews.lv/ru/latvia/news/2320.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160913172720/http://www.biznews.lv/ru/latvia/news/2320.html|archive-date=2016-09-13|website=Telegraph|language=ru|date=2001-11-27}}{{cite web|title=Девочка Алина Лебедева|url=http://www.biznews.lv/ru/latvia/news/2263.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160913172254/http://www.biznews.lv/ru/latvia/news/2263.html|archive-date=2016-09-13|website=Telegraph|language=ru|date=2001-11-14}}), approached Charles as he was greeting people at the Freedom Monument in Riga and struck him in the face with three red carnations. The incident was reported by international mainstream media.{{cite news |title=Prince hit with flower in war protest |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/11/08/prince.latvia/index.html |accessdate=18 April 2020 |work=CNN |date=9 November 2001 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011109045244/http://edition.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/11/08/prince.latvia/index.html |archive-date=9 November 2001 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last1=Gentleman |first1=Amelia |title=Flower power |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/nov/13/september11.uk |accessdate=18 April 2020 |work=The Guardian |date=13 November 2001 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140510170647/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/nov/13/september11.uk |archive-date=10 May 2014 |url-status=live }} Lebedeva was immediately arrested and taken to the Department of National Security. She was strip-searched, interrogated, and charged under statute 87 of the Latvian criminal code, which carried a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison. After three days, she was released from the detention centre and required to report every day to Daugavpils police station until the case came to trial. Lebedeva had intended the action as a protest against the killing of civilians during the war in Afghanistan but forgot to say anything until she was being bundled into a police car. She later told The Guardian: "I've got no idea what his views are on the war. I saw him just as a representative for Britain".
Prince Charles was on a five-day tour of the Baltic states and privately admitted that the incident had "frightened me rigid". However, he made a plea for leniency and the charge was dropped from assaulting a foreign dignitary to hooliganism, which carried a maximum prison sentence of two years. Latvian President Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga and Lebedeva's English teacher had already apologised to the prince.{{cite news |title=Latvia charges prince flower girl |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/11/30/latvia.charles/ |accessdate=18 April 2020 |work=CNN |date=30 November 2001}} Eventually, the charge was lessened again; Lebedeva was sentenced to unspecified educational measures and put under her mother's supervision for one year.{{cite news |title=Latvia flower-attacker spared jail |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1774966.stm |accessdate=18 April 2020 |work=BBC |date=22 January 2002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031009163927/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1774966.stm |archive-date=9 October 2003 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |title=Girl who hit Charles left in mother's care |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/girl-who-hit-charles-left-in-mothers-care/article18286323/ |accessdate=18 April 2020 |date=22 January 2002}}{{cite news |last1=Akbar |first1=Arifa |title=Latvian faces jail for flower protest |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/latvian-faces-jail-for-flower-protest-9272635.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200614000334/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/latvian-faces-jail-for-flower-protest-9272635.html |archive-date=2020-06-14 |url-access=limited |url-status=live |accessdate=18 April 2020 |work=The Independent |date=10 November 2001 |language=en}} If Lebedeva had engaged in criminal activity or hooliganism, her mother would have been put on trial.{{cite news |title=Flower attack girl given light sentence |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1382199/Flower-attack-girl-given-light-sentence.html |accessdate=18 April 2020 |work=Daily Telegraph |date=21 January 2002 |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160229032946/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1382199/Flower-attack-girl-given-light-sentence.html |archive-date=29 February 2016 |url-status=live }} Lebedeva subsequently gained the nickname 'Carnation Alina'.
Later life
In 2004, Lebedeva re-appeared on Latvian news when she was arrested for allegedly setting fire to the front door of the Ministry of Education of Latvia in Riga. Lebedeva, who was 18 years old at the time, was arrested along with a 21-year-old man in Daugavpils. She was not charged, but a judge ordered her to be placed in detention for a week whilst the crime was investigated. The arson attack was allegedly connected to a National Bolshevik Party protest against a new law requiring that all schools teach mainly in Latvian.{{cite news |title=Firehouse |url=https://www.firehouse.com/home/news/10527477/latvian-teenager-allegedly-sets-fire-to-education-ministry-door |accessdate=18 April 2020 |work=www.firehouse.com |agency=AP |date=29 January 2004}}
BBC News reported later in 2004 that Lebedeva was amongst the National Bolshevik Party activists arrested after an action in which they invaded the Russian presidential offices in Moscow and hung a banner which read "Putin go away".{{cite news |title=Russian radicals' office raided |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4115069.stm |accessdate=18 April 2020 |work=BBC |date=21 December 2004}} Lebedeva was then jailed for two years.{{cite news |title=Prince Charles' floral assailent [sic] to run for EP |url=https://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/22613/ |accessdate=18 April 2020 |work=baltictimes.com |agency=TBT / BNS |date=27 March 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180630043625/https://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/22613/ |archive-date=30 June 2018 |url-status=live }}
Lebedeva stood for election as a Member of the European Parliament for the Motherland party in 2009. She was the second person on the Motherland party list, after the party's leader Juris Žuravļovs.{{cite web |title=10.saraksts Politiskā partija 'Par Dzimteni!' - Latvijas Vēstnesis |url=https://www.vestnesis.lv/ta/id/192242 |website=www.vestnesis.lv |accessdate=4 May 2020 |language=lv}} Lebedeva then renounced politics and returned to her studies. As of 2012, she had earned a bachelor's degree in social pedagogy and was preparing for a master's degree.
See also
- Katie Sierra free speech case – the case of an American teenager who protested the Afghanistan War at school
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.oocities.org/elsvenjo/FreeAlina.html Free Alina Lebedeva]
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Category:Latvian people of Russian descent
Category:People from Daugavpils