The Latvian Financial Police have been ordered to pay 10,000 lats (42,300 euros) to high profile TV news presenter Ilze Jaunalksne for illegally tapping her telephone and selling the transcripts to a newspaper.
The Riga Regional Court handed down the ruling on Feb. 9 after finding the Finance Ministry and State Revenue Service had failed in their duties by breaching Jaunalksne's privacy.
The defendants were also ordered to bay 243 lats in court costs.
Jaunalksne told BNS that the ruling meant the state would now have to be more careful when using its powers to tap private phone conversations.
Jaunalksne had demanded damages of 300,000 lats after Financial Police agents tapped her phone calls and sold transcripts to newspapers.
Four Financial Police officers are being prosecuted for abuse of office in connection with the wiretapping case.
