Alina Lebedeva, 18, appeared Thursday in a district court in Riga, the Baltic state's capital, on suspicion that she and 21-year-old Aleksandrs Gridasovs started the fire three weeks ago. Firefighters quickly extinguished the flames and there were no injuries.
Lebedeva has not been charged in the fire but a judge ordered her jailed for a week while police complete their investigation. Lebedeva and her alleged accomplice were detained Monday in their hometown of Daugavpils, 120 miles southeast of Riga, said police spokeswoman Kristine Mezaraupe.
Lebedeva caused a sensation in Latvia and Britain for swatting the heir to the throne across the cheek with a red carnation as he toured Riga in November 2002.
After the flower attack on the prince, which Lebedeva said was in protest to the Afghan war, she was charged with ``threatening the life of a foreign dignitary,'' which carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in jail.
The charge was later reduced and a judge declined to punish her, telling Lebedeva to go home and ``stay out of trouble.''
After the fire at the Education Ministry, officials allegedly received an e-mail from the far-left National Bolsheviks group saying its members set the fire to protest a new law requiring that all Latvian public schools - even those catering to Russians - teach mainly in Latvian.
Lebedeva, who is an ethnic Russian, was widely quoted two years ago as saying she admired the fringe National Bolsheviks.
Russian speakers make up nearly 30 percent of Latvia's 2.3 million people and many argue that the school reform constitutes a state-sanctioned attack on their culture. Latvia's government counters that it is meant to help integrate minorities.
