RIGA, Sept 14 (LETA) - The Constitutional Court has declined to open proceedings following Daugavpils City Council's complaint questioning its obligation to dismantle monuments glorifying totalitarian regimes, LETA learned in court.

According to the Constitutional Court, Daugavpils municipality emphasized in its petition that Saeima had interfered with the provisions of the Law on Local Governments, which obliges local governments to care for the improvement of their respective municipalities.

Daugavpils City Council's petition claimed that deciding the fate of monuments to Soviet and Nazi regimes was an autonomous function of the municipality, not the State.

The petition also stated that, by assigning a new task to a municipality, the State should also provide adequate funding for performance of this task. This has not been done, and therefore the principle of self-government has been violated.

The Constitutional Court has concluded that the petition does not comply with the Constitutional Court Law's Section 18 and 19, and decided not to open proceedings.

The Constitutional Court's ruling cannot be appealed.

As reported, Daugavpils local government has not submitted to the Environment Protection and Regional Development Ministry the plan on dismantling the monument glorifying the Soviet and Nazi regimes, waiting for decisions of the Culture Ministry and the National Cultural Heritage Administration (NKMP) on assessment to monuments.

Daugavpils Mayor Andrejs Elksnins (Harmony) told LETA that the local government has turned to the ministry and NKMP with a request for an assessment of two objects in Daugavpils - a memorial place for the soldiers of the Red Army and the monument of the soldiers of the 360th riflemen division of the Red Army.

Elksnins explained that the local governments has asked for the assessment and further activities will be based on that.

He also reminded that the local government has turned to the Constitutional Court to contest the law.