23 May, 2023
On Monday, May 22, the Judicial Council adopted a decision in a written procedure to create a working group that will conduct an in-depth analysis of court work in cases related to domestic violence and threats to a person's life and health.
Composition of the working group:
• Aigars Strupišs, President of the Supreme Court, Chair of the Judicial Council;
• Ilze Celmiņa, Judge of the Riga Regional Court's Collegium of Civil Cases, Member of the Judicial Council;
• Sandra Kaija, Senator of the Department of Criminal Cases of the Senate;
• Liene Mikulāne, Judge at the Riga City Court;
• Inita Ilgaža, Deputy State Secretary on Court Issues of the Ministry of Justice;
• Dana Rone, Representative of the Latvian Bar Association, Sworn lawyer;
• Inga Niedre, Chief Prosecutor of the Department of Pre-trial Criminal Procedure and Judicial Proceedings Coordination Division of the Criminal Justice Department of the Prosecutor’s General Office.
The objective of the working group shall be the analysis of the practice of the work organization of the judicial system and to identify shortcomings in inter-institutional cooperation in cases related to the protection of a person against domestic violence and threats to his/her life and health. At the same time, the working group is called to develop proposals to effectively ensure the rights of the injured persons to protection in the mentioned cases, as well as to improve court communication in crisis situations.
The working group will have to submit a report to the Judicial Council on the work results.
Additional information:
The Judicial Council had already informed that Aigars Strupišs, the Chair of the Judicial Council, has requested the members of the Judicial Council to nominate candidates for the working group in order to streamline the judicial work and judicial cooperation with other law enforcement institutions in cases related to the protection of persons against violence or its threats.