Latvian State Police have commenced a criminal procedure in relation to the information recently reported regarding the possible harassment of students by teachers of Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music (JVLMA).
Law enforcement officers urge all victims and witnesses to respond by writing to onssnap@vp.gov.lv or calling 67075517; 67075211 during business hours. The police guarantee anonymity to anyone who will be able to provide useful information in the investigation.
Previously police received an application from the academy’s rector Guntars Prānis.
LTV programme Kultūršoks reported testimonies from seven JVLMA female students, detailing sexual harassment from several individual teachers.
The programme has the names of the suspects, but they will not be published at this time, because it is first necessary to work on proving they did something wrong. Testimonies will be sent to the Ombudsman’s Office. The institution’s representative mentioned during the broadcast that the testimony in question points to systematic inappropriate behaviour.
Information available to the programme shows that several complaints were filed against at least one teacher. LTV previously reported that one of the teachers that may have overstepped his bounds in relations with students is Head of the Department of Ancient Music Māris Kupčs.
The female students said that feeling of harassment was disgusting, created a sense of fear, interfered with learning, created health and other problems.
After lengthy discussions, JVLMA Council decided to express no-confidence to the academy’s rector Prānis, inviting him to step down.
If he refuses to step down, JVLMA Council will ask Chairman of the Senate Ilona Meija to review the matter at an extraordinary meeting of the Senate.
At the beginning of February JVLMA rector Prānis issued the order on the rules of conduct of the academy employees, stating that any type of harassment does not comply with generally accepted ethical and behavioral norms.
Also read: Official: attack on Volkov is first case of political terrorism in Lithuania
Follow us on Facebook and X!
Latvian police ask victims of JVLMA teachers’ possible sexual harassment to respond
