The Supreme Court (AT) refused to consider the side complaint of Aivars Lembergs, accused of serious corruption crimes, regarding the decision of the Administrative District Court to terminate the proceedings in the case of which the the politician tried to obtain more than EUR 270,000 for the previous restrictions imposed on him. Therefore, the decision of the first instance has entered into force, the Administrative District Court informs.
Lembergs asked the court to issue an administrative act in his favor, to be compensated for EUR 244,182 in damages and EUR 27,000 in non–pecuniary damage, which, in his view, were caused by him being in criminal proceedings for 13 years, six months and nine days and being applied a security measure –
Prohibition to perform the duties of a Chariman in Ventspils City Council and Freeport of Ventspils Board
It is to be noted, that Lembergs anyway were unoficially fullfilling the duties of the mayor, leading council meetings and referring to himself as the city manager.
The court recognized that there is no reason to decide on compensatory damages in the case, because there is no legal basis for action for damages – neither the competent court nor the official in the relevant process has found illegal conduct.
The court explained that the Criminal Procedure Law provides the possibility to appeal a decision on a certain prohibition of occupation, as well as requesting to cancel it later, if during the application of the coercive measure, the justification for its application has been lost or changed.
The appeal against the decision on the application of a security measure, separately or together with the court verdict, is intended both during the pre–trial proceedings of the case, until the trial of the case in court, and during the trial of the case in court. Lembergs has used the mechanisms for checking the legality of the security measure applied to him, however, at the moment, the illegality of the action by applying the bail measure has not been established.
The court emphasized that it is not a matter of competence of the administrative court to check the legality of decisions made in criminal proceedings. In compliance with the above, the legal proceedings in the case were terminated due to the absence of subjective rights.
As reported previosuly, on 22 February, 2021 Riga Regional Court sentenced Aivars Lembergs to five–year prison sentence, confiscation of property and a fine of EUR 20 000.
The court also ruled Lembergs is to pay victims in the criminal case compensation of approximately EUR 64 000. The court also decided to enforce from Lembergs legal costs of EUR 22 180 for services provided by the state–appointed lawyer.
The court found Lembergs gulity as found guilty in 19 counts and acquitted in 21 counts of the charges brought against him. Lembergs was found guilty of bribery, forgery of documents, money laundering, forgery at an official position, unauthorized participation in property transactions, as well as providing false information in financial statements.
However, he was acquitted of abuse of office and violation of restrictions imposed on a public official.
The Riga Regional Court, as the first instance, started considering this case already in 2009. In the future, it will still be possible to submit a cassation complaint or protest to the Supreme Court against the decision of the district court as an appellate instance.