After completing basic training at Fort Jackson, S . C ., Tobin, who had earned top scores on his language aptitude tests, was sent to the elite Defense Language Institute in Monterey, Calif . He spent a year there studying Russian and moved on to an eight-week course in basic interrogation at the Army's intelligence training facility in Fort Huachuca, Ariz . After that, he went on to pursue his undergraduate degree at Middlebury.
32.
The Committee noted that, " in this case, the decision of a single inspector, taken a few days before the elections and contradicting a language aptitude certificate issued some years earlier, for an unlimited period, by a board of Latvian language specialists, was enough for the Election Commission to decide to strike the author off the list of candidates for the municipal elections . [ . . ] the State party does not contest the validity of the certificate as it relates to the author's professional position, but argues on the basis of the results of the inspector's review in the matter of the author's eligibility . [ . . ] the State party has not contested counsel's argument that Latvian law does not provide for separate levels of proficiency in the official language in order to stand for election, but applies the standards and certification used in other instances . [ . . ] the first examination, in 1993, was conducted in accordance with formal requirements and was assessed by five experts, whereas the 1997 review was conducted in an ad hoc manner and assessed by a single individual " ( para . 7.4 . ).
