Crime, Latvia, Law and Regulations, Legislation

According to the new amendments, criminal cases involving state officials would have priority over other criminal cases, and they must be brought to trial and heard within a reasonable period of time.

Parliament also turned down a proposal made by Saeima Legal Affairs Committee member Andrejs Elksnins (Harmony Center) opposing the above mentioned amendments.

Elksnins previously said during a committee meeting that the amendments are deliberately being pushed forward in connection with the criminal process against Ventspils Mayor Aivars Lembergs (For Latvia and Ventspils).

Meanwhile, the initiator of the amendments, Legal Affairs Committee member Andrejs Judins (Unity), explained that they have been prepared in order to alter the current scheduling practice. At the moment, judges who are reviewing cases involving state officials, can postpone hearings for a year and even more. With the new amendments, judges will be forced to hear the case it was initially scheduled for, and will not be able to postpone it for several months or more, but only one month.

''Lembergs is not living in my head. I have come up with these amendments to improve the effectiveness of our courts,'' Judins said.

As reported, Lembergs, currently on trial for serious fraud and money laundering in Latvia, was named one of the country's three so-called oligarchs by former Latvian President Valdis Zatlers. Postponement of hearings in the trial have become a weekly routine.