One of the names of the lecturers that came up in the scandal of sexual harassment and emotional abuse was that of Kronlaks, the former head of the Department of Music Technology. An anonymous student confirmed that the lecturer had been in contact with her for several years, and snippets of correspondence between the two in 2019 were also made public. Kronlaks was reprimanded by the Ethics Committee in February. A month later, he was suspended. In his view, this was unlawful.
Kronlaks said: "Because I had already been reprimanded and... I'm not a lawyer, I can't comment that well. I was reprimanded and I was also given a notice of termination for basically the same thing, which means that I am being punished twice."
On Thursday, the two sides - the JVLMA and Kronlaks - met in the courtroom.
Kronlak has demanded compensation of around €8,000, which is the average earnings for the period of enforced absence, and reinstatement.
The hearing was attended only by lawyers for both parties, who declined to comment on the proceedings. Thursday's hearing lasted several hours, during which both sides were heard. The next hearing is scheduled for next week.
Latvian Television asked Kronlaks whether he intended to return to work at the academy if the court ruled in his favor and reinstated him, and he replied, "Of course, yes."
Meanwhile, the State Police is continuing its criminal investigation into the information about alleged sexual harassment at the JVLMA.
