A Russian-born woman who’s lived in Latvia for more than half a century, is still unable to become a Latvian citizen because she does not speak the language. Now she’s turning to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

When Natalia Andreyeva's family left St.Petersburg in 1953, the Soviet Latvian republic, and later independent Latvia, became her new home. But when Latvia gained independence in 1991, Natalia was given an alien’s passport.

A requirement of citizenship is to learn the Latvian language – a task the 66-year-old says will not be easy.

Natalia Andryeeva is one of almost 400,000 people, the majority of whom are Russians, who are termed aliens, or non-citizens. They form the one fifth of the population of Latvia.

After Latvia's split with the USSR, Latvian citizenship was granted to those who could prove they or their family had been in the country before June 17, 1940, when Latvia became part of the Soviet Union. It looked like revenge for what Latvia calls Soviet occupation from 1940 to 1991, and what Russia regards as liberation.

The Latvian government says that non-citizens are not stateless and that they can live in Latvia without visas or residence permits. But aliens do not enjoy the same rights and freedoms as other Latvians. Human rights activists say there are nearly 80 legal differences between them.

For example, only Latvian citizens have the right to be company owners, directors or board members, or even study in certain universities.

“The situation with non-citizenship reminds me of Nazi Germany, where the role of non-citizens was played by Jews. They had no civil rights or property, were placed in ghettoes and issued with special documents,” said Michael Ioffe from the Compatriots Abroad Fund.

Tatyana Zhdanok from Latvia's Human Rights Committee has devoted years to the problems of non-citizens.

As a member of the European Parliament, she wants to bring the matter to the attention of the international community.