A well-known Latvian economist was arrested by the country’s national Security Police last week for allegedly spreading “untruthful information” about Latvia’s financial system via his blog.

Dmitrijs Smirnovs, a 32-year-old university lecturer, told The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), “All I did was say what everyone knows.”

Nevertheless, Smirnovs was interrogated for two days before being released. No charges were ultimately laid but his computer was confiscated.

Smirnovs explained that it’s a federal offense in Latvia to disseminate “untrue data or information” about the financial system, an activity that’s officially considered subversive.

Latvian Finance Ministry State Secretary Martins Bicevskis calls the police action, “a form of deterrence”.

The WSJ notes that this is not first time the Latvian authorities have recently moved to silence digital and conventional criticism of the national banking system:

…When the global financial system began to buckle this [past] autumn, Latvia’s Security Police mobilized to combat destabilizing chatter about banks and exchange rates. Agents directed their attention to Internet chat rooms, newspaper articles, cellphone text messages and even rock concerts. A popular musician was taken in for questioning after he cracked a joke about unstable Latvian banks at a performance.

Just one problem: Much of the speculative buzz now turns out to ring true.

Smirnovs notes that his opinions about Latvia’s fragile economy were already well known to his friends and students before the police raid and he stands by them. But he also admits he will be more careful about voicing his opinions in public in the future.

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