Riga City Court Judge Sigita Dolniece has decided to satisfy the requests from the accused in of the murder of insolvency administrator Mārtiņš Bunkus, in which they requested to participate in the trial in person.
The next court hearings are scheduled for the 13th of June and 21st of June.
Police handed the case to the prosecutor’s office last year. In it criminal charges are presented to four people – three Latvian and one Russian citizen.
Among the accused are businessmen Aleksandrs Babenko and Mihails Uļmans.
One of them is accused of ordering the murder, whereas the other is accused of supporting it.
Charges are also presented to the person who fired the gun that killed Bunkus – this person is a 1974-born Russian citizen Viktors Krivošejs. Police caught the man in Latvia. He is accused of carrying a firearm and ammunition without a permit. The man is put under arrest.
No charges are presented against the organiser of the crime, as he died a violent death himself.
TV3 programme Nekā personīga reported that this man is once a member of Ivans Haritonovs’ group Genādijs Vaļagins. He was shot dead in March 2022. The criminal procedure against 1970-born Arkadijs Judins was ended because authorities found no evidence of him supporting this crime.
According to Riga Court District Prosecutor Aldis Lasmanis, the pre-trial criminal procedure was done effectively without delays. The case was submitted to court quickly in order to ensure a fair process. The prosecutor did not comment if the motive behind the murder was related to the Rego Trade LLC insolvency case, in which Bunkus was the insolvency administrator.
Bunkus was shot dead in his car near Riga Forest Cemetery in the morning on the 30th May 2018. Shortly after the murder police found a burned down car bearing a forged registration place not far from the crime scene.
Bunkus’ relatives told the press they are concerned the accused will try to influence the court and avoid responsibility for the crime.
All three of the accused participated in a court hearing of their case on the 20th of May remotely.
They submitted a request to permit them to participate in person. Their representatives said the request was submitted because the quality of the audio and video was not good enough and made it difficult to follow the trial.
Senior prosecutor Armīns Meisters said all three of the accused can participate in court hearings remotely, because escorting every single accused person includes economic and security aspects.
Uļmans and Babenko complained about the audio quality and that they cannot hear the simultaneous Russian translation very well.
Babenko claimed no one informed him of his rights as the accused and his duties when attending a trial of a court of first instance. According to materials of the case, Babenko was informed about his rights and duties in Russian language, but he claims he was never shown any such document.
The court decided to read the accused persons’ right in Latvian language, but a request was received from the translator for a ten-minute break it order to prepare the document in Russian language to make the trial easier.
Riga City Court commenced the viewing the criminal case regarding the murder of Latvian insolvency administrator Mārtiņš Bunkus on the 20th of May.
Also read: Foundation assumes suspects in Bunkus’ murder may try to interfere with trial