IHF Report 2001

LATVIA1 195 IHF FOCUS: Judicial system and domestic safeguards; ill-treatment and misconduct by law enforcement officials; conditions in prisons and detention facilities; consci- entious objection; protection of ethnic minorities; citizenship, intolerance, xenopho- bia, racial discrimination and hate speech; protection of asylum seekers; international humanitarian law; women’s rights; rights of the child; rights of the mentally ill; patient’s rights. The primary human rights problems in The delays were caused partly by Latvia in 2000 were closely related to se- chronic under-funding, leading to a short- vere backlogs in the court system and long age of personnel and lack of premises. The pre-trial detention periods, especially for Riga District Court employs 36 percent of minors. In 2000 Latvia also witnessed the all district judges who have to review 56.8 mobilisation of small groups of Latvian and percent of all cases submitted to district Russian racist extremists, but law enforce- courts. Towards the end of the year, the ment agencies responded vigorously. Ministry of Justice increased the number of The core positive developments in judges by eight, including three for the Riga 2000 were in the legislative arena. Parlia- District Court. Another reason for the delays ment liberalised the Law on the Constitu- was the absence of legal norms in criminal tional Court to allow individuals to com- procedures setting time limits for the re- plain to Latvia’s most progressive but un- view of cases. In 2000, the authorities once der-utilised judicial body. After considerable again failed to adopt a new Criminal controversy, the Cabinet also adopted im- Procedure Code, the drafting of which had plementing regulations to the 1999 Law on begun in late 1990. the State Language, which are essentially in In a positive development in 2000, for conformity with Latvia’s international obli- the first time since the restoration of inde- gations. pendence, the Ministry of Justice budgeted significant funds (Lats 40,000 or U.S.$ Judicial System and Domestic 67,000) for the training of judges. Previous- Safeguards ly, international donors had funded almost all judicial training. Severe backlogs in the court system On 30 November, the Saeima (Parlia- threatened the right to fair and speedy trial ment) adopted progressive amendments in Latvia. For example, in February, the to the Law on the Constitutional Court to Prison Administration sent a letter inform- broaden the scope of those eligible to sub- ing the Department of Courts of the mit applications. Until the changes, eligible Ministry of Justice that there were 607 per- applicants included the President, no less sons in prison who have been awaiting a than 20 parliamentary deputies, the Cabi- court sentence since 1997. By early March net of Ministers, the plenum of the High the Department of Courts of the Ministry of Court, the Council of the State Control, the Justice had received 174 complaints con- National Human Rights Office and city cerning the work of judges, half of which councils. From its creation in mid-1997 to involved lengthy delays in reviewing cases mid-2000, the Constitutional Court recei- in the Riga District Court. By the autumn, ved only 44 applications. The new amend- judges in this court had been forced to ments permit private individuals to submit schedule hearings for 2002 and even complaints in cases of violations of their ba- 2003. 1,371 civil cases submitted in 2000 sic rights. However, private individuals will were not reviewed during the year because only be able to complain about a legal of the backlog, of which 1,270 were in the norm, and not about the unconstitutionali- Riga District Court. ty of a court verdict or act of public author- 196 LATVIA ities. The Constitutional Court will have the Police violence and misconduct contin- power to determine the constitutionality of ued to evoke concern in 2000, as did the the norm in question or to recognise it as punishments levied on errant officers, not being in force, but the plaintiff will have which were often mild, if they were levied to turn to a regular court again to seek re- at all. dress when an unconstitutional norm has N On 2 February a youth turned to the been applied. Lower courts will also be 21st Riga police office with a request for as- able to submit applications in cases where sistance in retrieving two stolen Lats. His they believe that the legal provision to be claims of police abuse were corroborated applied in the case pending does not com- by physicians, who found physical signs of ply with a legal norm of higher force. ill-treatment. A criminal investigation ended inconclusively, though the victim expressed Torture, Ill-Treatment and Misconduct an intent to appeal. by Law Enforcement Officials At the beginning of the year, the N On 8 November, the Kurzeme Interior Ministry released data on discipli- Regional Court found two former Liepaja nary measures taken against Ministry staff Municipal police inspectors, Aigars Prusis in 1999. The total figure of those punished and Janis Fugalis, guilty of beating and hu- was close to 4000 - a 5 percent increase miliating three minors. However, the Court from 1998. In 1999, 60 Interior Ministry handed down very mild punishments: two- personnel were detained or imprisoned for year suspended sentences. committing criminal acts, of which 28 cas- A number of instances of misconduct es involved accepting bribes. Interior were reported in the Ogre Municipal Police, Minister Mareks Seglins urged harsher suggesting a pattern of problems. penalties for errant police officers, noting N that “there were 102 cases in which police In January, three police officers were staff were driving an automobile under the arrested by the Office for Combatting influence of alcohol, but only 40 lost their Organised Crime and Corruption (ONKAB) jobs: this situation undermines the prestige after they were found to have attempted to of the police.” illegally fine an inhabitant, to have issued At the beginning of the year, the invalid receipts for fines and to have been General Prosecutor’s Office conducted a “careless” about disposing confiscated con- review of criminal cases completed in the traband liquor. final quarter of 1999. A review of registered N In the summer, ONKAB submitted evi- criminal acts in 11 Latvian districts found dence to the Ogre Prosecutor’s Office 32 cases in which the local prosecutor or about three other Ogre Municipal Police of- police official had unjustifiably refused to ficers. ONKAB charged them with arresting initiate criminal proceedings. For the period two persons in February, driving them sev- in question, a total of 9,845 criminal acts en kilometres from Ogre into the woods, were registered, but authorities decided not partially stripping them, and leaving them to initiate criminal proceedings in 44 per- in -5 degrees temperature. However, the cent of all cases. The Riga court district Ogre District Court returned the case to the prosecutor discovered several cases involv- Prosecutor’s Office for additional investiga- ing the sexual exploitation of children that police had unjustifiably failed to pursue. tion and, by year’s end, the case had not While declining to specify the number of yet been reviewed. such cases, Chief Prosecutor for the district, In a number of cases, police officers Janis Drobisevskis, noted that the cases in were found to have driven into and seri- question were being investigated. ously injured civilians. LATVIA 197 N On 30 October, a Cesis Traffic police regime for those who had already been officer was found to have driven into and sentenced by the courts but were appeal- seriously injured a 50-year-old man and left ing the decision. These prisoners continued the scene of the accident. While the officer to remain in cells for 23 hours a day and in question lost his job, the Cesis region most were denied contact with the outside Traffic Police Chief acknowledged that four world, despite the fact that many of them of 12 inspectors in his region had commit- remained in remand prisons for up to two ted serious crimes in 2000. years. In early October, ten prisoners in In early autumn the leadership of the Matisa Prison went on a hunger strike de- Latvian Prison Administration fired four manding a more rapid review of their cas- prison guards who had beaten up prisoners es in courts. in the Central Prison. The guards appealed The widespread incidence of tuberculosis and HIV among prison inmates re- the decision in court and a hearing was mained a cause for concern. Throughout scheduled for early spring 2001. 2000, a total of 474 persons in prison were On 13 December, the Cabinet of found to have active tuberculosis, a 60 per- Ministers adopted a decision to make pub- son increase compared with 1999. lic the report by the European Committee However, a total of 187 first-time patients for the Prevention of Torture on Latvia’s were diagnosed, 51 percent of whom be- closed institutions. On 20 December, the came ill in prison. At the end of the year, Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers 197 inmates had HIV, though the tally for also approved Latvia’s nominee to the the year as a whole was 290. Committee – Angelita Kamenska of the Conditions in Latvia’s 28 short-term Latvian Centre for Human Rights and Ethnic police detention centres (izolators) also Studies (IHF member). gave cause for concern. In a meeting with National Human Rights Office Director Conditions in Prisons and Detention Olafs Bruvers on 1 November, State Police Facilities Chief Juris Reksna acknowledged that sev- The large number of prisoners, the eral of the detention centres would have to high-percentage of remand prisoners and be closed because there was no funding their conditions, and the incidence of dis- for repairs.

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