Latvia, Legislation, Markets and Companies

''The court in question should be offering the public clear arguments in this matter, as well as mitigate the concerns that has been expressed publicly regarding whether the ruling was proportionate. We must also quell the public's suspicions that this is a deliberate attempt to influence independent journalism,'' Straujuma said via the Cabinet of Ministers' press secretary Signe Znotina-Znota.

As reported, the Riga Central District Court ordered assets frozen for the joint-stock company "Cits medijs", the publisher of the magazine "Ir", in the amount of EUR 22,979 following a petition filed by insolvency administrator Maris Spruds, "Cits medijs" board member Gundega Grinberga told Nozare.lv.

The court's decision cannot be appealed, as the court's representative Liva Tutina confirmed to LETA.

The decision was made in a legal dispute between Spruds and Ir over a series of investigative articles printed by the magazine, and Spruds claiming compensation for defamation of character. It is currently unknown when the court could review the case.

Grinberga emphasizes that Ir considers Spruds' claim - and the court's decision to arrest the publisher's assets - disproportionate, and that the court's ruling should be viewed as an "attack on freedom of speech that a democratic country should never tolerate."

The decision by the Riga Central District Court Judge Sandra Melina follows Spruds' claim in a civil case where the insolvency administrator indicated the said amount as compensation he wanted to receive from the publisher over the article "Insolvency Kitchen" printed in the magazine Ir in September 2012.