The Senate of the Supreme Court is asked to evaluate the arrest of Aivars Lembergs

A complaint has been submitted to the Department of Criminal Cases of the Senate of the Supreme Court regarding the illegal arrest of Aivars Lembergs and denial of the right to defense - lawyer Māris Grudulis, who submitted this complaint, confirmed to Neatkarīgā.

He explained that such a complaint had been submitted to the Senate of the Supreme Court because, at the press conference of the Riga Regional Court on February 22, 2021, Judge Irīna Jansone stated that Aivars Lembergs will be able to appeal the court decision on the application of imprisonment only together with the full judgment, but the estimated time until the full judgment is made can't be predicted. This, in turn, means that Aivars Lembergs will have to spend an unpredictably long time in prison without justification.

At present, A. Lembergs is in the Prison Administration, in the 14-day quarantine of Riga Central Prison. He is thus prevented from meeting with a lawyer to exercise his rights of defense, in particular, to appeal against a court decision on the unlawful application of imprisonment, as well as to prepare for an appeal against the judgment.

As the lawyer explained, “the opportunity to meet with a lawyer on specific days is very important, as it is necessary to coordinate and sign a number of documents, to discuss the further implementation of the defense. Despite the requirements of Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights, Aivars Lembergs still has not been informed about the grounds and reasons for his imprisonment. In the quarantine, Aivars Lembergs cannot observe the treatment and physiotherapy measures prescribed to him. In fact, he is forced to spend the whole day in a narrow cell, which significantly restricts his ability to move. It is not possible for him to receive parcels, including things necessary for the provision of basic living”.

In his complaint to the Senate, the lawyer emphasized that for A. Lembergs to be imprisoned in the first instance proceedings after 12 years of torment, the court must have very serious and convincing arguments at its disposal. It is important that A. Lembergs has never delayed court hearings without justification during the entire 12 years and also has not become dangerous to society over these 12 years. Nevertheless, on February 22, in hall no. 32 of Riga Regional Court no arguments came from the mouth of the Deputy Chairperson of the Riga Regional Court Irīna Jansone. In the opinion of the lawyer, even in the abbreviated judgement, the court should have justified the application of the most severe security measure restricting the rights of a person. Instead, as all interested parties heard, the judge only stated the following: "The security measures applied to Aivars Lembergs - the ban on leaving the country, the ban on certain occupations and the ban on approaching certain persons, shall be lifted after the verdict is announced. After the verdict is announced, Aivars Lembergs shall be remanded in custody. Aivars Lembergs shall be arrested in the courtroom after the verdict is announced.”

This obviously means that the imprisonment was not justified at all by the court. The lawyer considers such court action to be illegal and, based on Latvian law, the European Convention on Human Rights and the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights, has substantiated it in a complaint to the Senate.

The lawyer has asked the Senate to revoke the illegal security measure and, if the Senate deems it necessary to apply a security measure, to apply either a bail or, if absolutely necessary, to replace the arrest with house arrest.

M. Grudulis also emphasized that at present, “taking into account the restrictive measures of Covid-19, the number of detainees in prisons is reduced as much as possible, imprisonment is replaced by bail and other security measures, and pretty much only those persons whose presence in society is particularly dangerous - murderers with tendencies, maniacs - are detained”.

"Aivars Lembergs is denied the opportunity to communicate with family members even by phone. Even though his health condition is deteriorating due to movement restrictions and he is constantly suffering from pain, Aivars Lembergs is strong in spirit, alert and continues to fight against unfounded accusations. He asked to convey his greetings to the family and all his supporters," said M. Grudulis.

*****

Be the first to read interesting news from Latvia and the world by joining our Telegram and Signal channels.