In the renewed competition for the position of Prosecutor General, Chief Prosecutor of the Riga Regional Court Prosecutor’s Office, Armīns Meisters, is considering submitting his candidacy.
He told the LETA news agency that he will first evaluate the situation before making a decision.
As previously reported by LETA, Meisters had also considered running in the previous competition, which concluded this week without a result.
As reported, after hearing all three candidates for the position – Uvis Kozlovskis, Aivars Ostapko, and Juris Stukāns – the Judicial Council decided this week to announce a new competition for the role.
This decision was made because none of the three candidates received the required number of votes. However, none of the candidates are barred from participating in the competition again.
Kozlovskis, a prosecutor from the Division for Coordination of Prosecution Functions within the Department for Performance Control and International Cooperation at the Prosecutor General’s Office, told LETA that he would not run again. Meanwhile, Aivars Ostapko, Chief Prosecutor of the same department, confirmed that he would consider running again.
The third candidate – current Prosecutor General Juris Stukāns – has not commented on whether he will run again.
Stukāns’ term expires on July 11.
According to the Prosecution Law, the Prosecutor General is appointed by the Saeima for a term of five years upon the recommendation of the Judicial Council. The same person may not serve more than two consecutive terms.
Stukāns, former Chair of the Criminal Cases Panel of the Riga Regional Court, was unanimously confirmed as Prosecutor General by the Saeima on June 18, 2020.
This year, the Supreme Court received a complaint regarding potential legal violations committed by the Prosecutor General. The complaint was submitted by prosecutor Viorika Jirgena, acting as a whistleblower. In her report addressed to Chief Justice Strupišs, she alleged a violation of the Prosecution Law — namely, that Stukāns had issued directives instructing her to take actions contrary to the supervising prosecutor’s convictions in the case concerning former Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš’s (New Unity) flights, specifically by pressing charges against a person whom Jirgena believed had no grounds to face criminal prosecution.
However, after reviewing the findings of the inquiry, the Supreme Court’s plenary session found no grounds to dismiss Stukāns. At the same time, it did note that Stukāns should pay closer attention to his public statements and professional ethics.
Meanwhile, Stukāns has denied using the offensive phrases quoted in Jirgena’s whistleblower report or pressuring anyone to bring charges in the former prime minister’s flight case.