A Riga city court on Monday closed a civil case after billionaire Pjotrs Avens withdrew his defamation lawsuit against Foreign Minister Baiba Braže (New Unity) over her remarks to the newspaper Diena, LETA was informed by the court.
Avens had filed a lawsuit against Braže and the publishing house Dienas Bizness, demanding a retraction of false, defamatory news, an apology and compensation for moral damages, LETA was informed at the court. The court decided to terminate the proceedings in the civil case.
The decision has not yet entered into force and can still be appealed to the Riga Regional Court within 10 days.
In his application to withdraw the lawsuit, Avens stated that, in accordance with the principle of dispositivity enshrined in civil procedure, he had decided not to pursue the civil dispute in question by way of legal proceedings.
“This position of the plaintiff has not changed after the initiation of the case because, given his position and the fact that Avens is the subject of European Union (EU) sanctions, he does not want his legitimate right to protection of his honor and dignity to be interpreted as an attempt to influence public officials before the next EU sanctions extension process scheduled for February 2026,” Avens says in his application to the court.
Therefore,
Avens informs that he completely drops the lawsuit against Braže and the publishing house Dienas Bizness.
As reported, the State Police (VP) refused to initiate criminal proceedings following a petition filed by Avens against Braže. The billionaire accused the minister of defamation in connection with her statements to the newspaper Diena.
The information expressed in the petition was the subject of a departmental investigation by the State Police, during which it was established that there was no criminal element; hence the decision to refuse to initiate criminal proceedings, the Public Relations Department of the State Police told LETA.
Avens, a dual citizen of Russia and Latvia, asked Latvian law enforcement authorities to start criminal proceedings against Braže for allegedly slandering him in an interview with the Diena daily.
Previously,
Avens had released a statement to the press in which he criticized Braže’s interview with Diena,
claiming that the minister had wrongfully accused him of corrupt ties with high-ranking Russian officials and money laundering.
In the interview in question, Braže described to Diena how dangerous it would be to remove Avens from the sanctions list: “He is Putin’s private banker. It’s Putin’s money they are laundering.”
Avens was placed on the EU sanctions list following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Since his inclusion on the sanctions list, Avens has been working to have them lifted.
Avens was sanctioned by the US, the UK, the EU, and other countries.
LETA also reported that the Court of Justice of the European Union has annulled the EU Council’s decision to impose sanctions on Avens and his business partner Mikhail Fridman in February 2022. A short time later, Latvia lodged appeals in the Avens and Fridman sanctions cases.
The Latvian Ministry of Justice previously argued that, when the sanctions were adopted, there was preliminary evidence of active material or financial support to Russian decision-makers responsible for the annexation of Crimea or the destabilization of Ukraine by Avens and Fridman.
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