The viewing of the criminal case involving the now ex-Minister of Health Ilze Viņķele will be continued by Riga City Vidzeme Suburb Court on the 11th of September. On Monday, the 19th of June, the court interviewed Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš.
Questions were associated with the period around the end of 2020, when the Ministry of Health started working on a plan for Covid-19 vaccine procurement and their use. Kariņš stressed in his testimony that he believes Viņķele failed to perform the task entrusted to her. The PM said it was unclear how and how long it would take to vaccinate Latvia’s society for Covid-19. This is why he decided to dismiss her from her post.
According to him, the situation was that the country was unable to start Covid-19 vaccination quickly enough. The PM said
that Viņķele has already been politically punished for this.
He also said the two of them had different views on Covid-19 vaccination, which was what led to her dismissal. This decision was made arbitrarily, and, according to Kariņš, he was prepared for the government to collapse or, at least, changes in the coalition.
In November 2022 the court decided to view the case behind closed doors. Later, however, the trial was made public following Viņķele’s request.
The prosecution office presented Viņķele with charges in accordance with Part 1 of Section 319 of the Criminal Law – failure to fulfil the duties of a public official, which is punishable with a three-year or short-term prison sentence with probation, community service or a fine.
Viņķele is accused of failing to develop a strategy to limit the spread of Covid-19 virus, which includes vaccine procurement, storage, logistics, officials’ competence and allocation of medical resources to ensure the vaccination process.
According to the prosecution office, Viņķele knew about the availability of Covid-19 vaccines on the market in 2021 and that Latvia as an EU member state supports the agreement on procurement of vaccines on behalf of the country.
According to the prosecution, Viņķele did not fulfil the duty of a public official: as a public official, she negligently failed to commit the actions that she was required by law and task to do in order to prevent harm to the interests of a person protected by law, and thereby caused significant harm to the interests of persons protected by law.
The prosecution stresses that no person is considered guilty until his or her guilt has been proven in accordance with the Criminal Procedure Law.
In November 2020 the EU offered member states to procure in a centralised procurement Pfizer/BionTech-produced vaccines against Covid-19. According to the report from the Ministry of Health disciplinary committee, Latvia was eligible to procure 841 342 doses, but decided to get only 97 500. In the next stage Latvia signed up for only 100 000 doses even though the country was eligible for 420 707 doses. As a result of this, Latvia was far slower to vaccinate its residents than other EU member states.
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