The Latgales rajona tiesa in Daugavpils has sentenced Igors Haits to 18 years in prison and three years of probation supervision for the murder of businessman and politician Andris Ļubka, the LETA news agency learned at the court.
The court also ruled to recover 3,100 euros from the defendant in favor of the state in connection with compensation paid to victims by the Court Administration.
In addition, the court granted the victims’ compensation claim, ordering the defendant to pay 100,000 euros for moral damages and 4,953 euros for material damages related to legal assistance.
The judgment has not yet entered into force and may be appealed to the Latgales apgabaltiesa.
As previously reported, Haits, born in 1975, was charged with murder under aggravating circumstances and with the illegal acquisition, possession, carrying, transportation, or sale of a firearm without the appropriate permit.
The maximum penalty for murder under aggravating circumstances is life imprisonment.
Konstantīns Belokurovs, born in 1991, who allegedly drove Haits away from the scene, has been charged with complicity in murder under aggravating circumstances, as well as with stealing a bag from Ļubka’s car. His case has been separated into a different criminal proceeding, and the trial is ongoing.
Ļubka was shot dead on the 17th of November, 2023, near a shopping center in Rēzekne. Haits, born in 1975, was detained on suspicion of committing the murder just a few hours later.
According to the prosecution, the motive for the crime was a verbal conflict over an everyday situation that occurred earlier that same day between Ļubka and Haits’ partner in the parking lot of another store.
After the shooting, the gunman fled the scene in a Volkswagen Touareg driven by Belokurovs. According to police information, within about an hour and a half the driver of the wanted vehicle was identified and detained. Belokurovs, however, claims that he voluntarily presented himself to the police as soon as he learned that he was being sought.
While clarifying the circumstances of the incident, investigators obtained information that the shooter was Haits, born in 1975, who got out of the vehicle in Vērēmu parish, Rēzekne municipality.
The murder weapon was not found.
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