sentences:  According to the European Court of Human Rights, the Government of Latvia, the United States, and the European Union, the occupation of Latvia by the USSR in 1940, and its subsequent re-incorporation in the Soviet Union in 1944, was illegal.According to this account, the lawful government of Latvia was overthrown in 1940 and Soviet rule was imposed by force.Subsequently, the Soviet Union conducted large-scale and systematic actions including murder and mass deportations against the Latvian population.