Crime
In 2022, Latvia's homicide rate continued to be several times higher than that of nearly all other European Union member states, according to Eurostat data published April 24.
Latvian Television's 'Studio 4' program has reported an extraordinary and distressing case in which a man responsible for a deadly drunk driving crash escaped prison due to the incompetence of law enforcement.
Radical sentiments are growing in Latvian society, the State Security Service (VDD) stated earlier this week. Both the VDD and the State Police (VP) ask that attention be paid to signs of radicalization in others - both right-wing and left-wing extremism - and to report them in cases of increased aggression, Latvian Television reported on April 23.
Over the weekend, a group of skinheads were arrested by the State Security Service and the State Police after a cooperation effort to uncover crimes committed against people in Riga's Vērmanes Garden.
Over the weekend, a group of skinheads were arrested by the State Security Service and the State Police after a cooperation effort to uncover crimes committed against people in Riga's Vērmanes Garden.
The Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau (KNAB) has begun an investigation of the allegedly illegal use of the information technology (IT) system developed by SOAAR in the congresses of the Unity political party, LETA reported on April 23.
The Latgale District Court is continuing trial on a case where a young man was beaten up last year in Daugavpils. The prosecution has now established that the crime was motivated by homophobia, and this is the first such trial in Latvia that has gone this far, Latvian Radio's Latgale studio reported on April 23.
On Saturday, 20 April, two Latvian citizens were detained for transporting persons who had illegally crossed the state border, the State Border Guard said.
The Kurzeme District Court has sentenced to one year's imprisonment parents whose minor child got methadone poisoning, the Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Latvia said on April 18.
Tuesday, April 16, will mark exactly the year since Leons Rusiņš brutally killed his ex-spouse and mum of two, Iveta, on a lonely country road near Jēkabpils with an axe. The murder took place in front of Iveta's mum and her two underage sons. Leons Rusiņš has still not been found, Latvian Television reported April 15.
The State Police regularly go on raids to guesthouses and public institutions in the border area to check contracts with TV providers and assess the range of available TV channels. This is done to prevent the broadcasting of Russian TV in the territory of Latvia. One such raid took place Monday in Krāslava, Latgale regional television reported.
The Riga City Court has decided to order the arrest of Ernests Rieksts, the accused in a criminal case concerning a fire which took nine lives.
State Police have detained four men on suspicion of killing a man, police reported April 12.
A group of four persons were detained by State Police in Rīga and Berģi this week in relation to drug charges, police said.
The punishment people will face for cruelty to animals will become more severe, according to amendments supported in a second reading in the Saeima on Thursday, April 11.
According to a release from the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs April 10, Latvian citizen and Russian businessman Petr Aven has won a European-level court case seeking to annul sanctions imposed upon him in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. However, the ruling does not mean sanctions will be immediately lifted against him, the MFA stressed.
State Police said April 10 it had detained two people who had torn a Ukrainian flag off a building in Rīga and filmed it.
In examining the alleged unlawful waste of funds related to the special flights of former Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš, the prosecutor has found grounds to initiate criminal proceedings, Prosecutor General Juris Stukāns said on April 10.
The Riga city court, Vidzeme district, has sentenced the former head of the Criminal Administration of the Customs service, Vladimirs Vaškevičs, to six years in prison for crimes of corruption, the LETA news agency reported April 9.
Officers of the Latvian State Police (VP) were involved in a high-speed pursuit on the evening of April 7 which saw a renegade motorcyclist weaving in and out of traffic at terrifying speeds on main roads and suburban streets alike.
On Saturday, April 6, a Latvian citizen was detained in the Krāslava municipality for transporting persons who had illegally crossed the State border, said the State Border Guard.
Sexual harassment should be subject to administrative liability, says the State Police (VP), LETA reported April 8.
This month will mark one year since the brutal murder when Leons Rusiņš killed his ex-wife in front of their child and the wife's mother. It was not only the atrocity that shocked the public but also the failure of law enforcement authorities to prevent it – they knew that Rusiņš had been stalking the woman. Latvian Television's De Facto looked at what has changed in prevention work and penalties for stalkers over the year.
Europol on April 5 reported on the most dangerous organized criminal networks in the European Union, including some in the Baltic states. Latvia is picked out as having particular problems with synthetic drugs and excise fraud
On Thursday, April 4, the Riga City Court imposed a precautionary measure - detention - on Rīga's Torņakalns district resident Jeļena Kreile, who is suspected of justifying and glorifying Russian war crimes.
State police have detained a young man born in 2002 for war crimes and praising Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, and the man has been placed in custody, police reported.
The State Police has opened criminal proceedings regarding another case when fraudsters, posing as bank and police employees, scammed a large amount of money – EUR 12,000 – from a father of two children. Police remind the public once again that scammers are using a lot of methods and to be vigilant, Latvian Television reported on April 3.
The prosecutor's office has charged former Saeima deputy Glorija Grevcova (Alliance of Young Latvians) with justifying Russian war crimes, and proclaimed her wanted, LETA reports April 3.
A Belarusian citizen was detained in Latvia last week, March 28, for transporting persons crossing the State border illegally, the State Border Guard reported.
At the end of March, the State Security Service (VDD) terminated the criminal proceedings on the alleged attempt to violate European Union (EU) sanctions against billionaire Petr (Pyotr) Aven in connection with the sale of a Bell 429 helicopter owned by him and "Amber Latvijas balzams"owner, billionaire Yuri Shefler, LETA news agency reports.
A release from the United States Department of Justice says a Latvian citizen is being held awaiting extradition in Rīga on suspicion of supplying advanced avionics components to aggressor state Russia.
Last week, the Vidzeme District Court sentenced a man to 18 years' imprisonment and two years' probation supervision for killing his grandfather. The accomplice in the murder was sentenced to 13 years' imprisonment and one year's probation supervision, the prosecutor's office said March 28.
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