Latvija in brief - 2004-11-25

  • 2004-11-25
The U.S. Senate has confirmed Cathrine Todd Baily of Louisville, Kentucky, as the new American ambassador, replacing Brian Carlson. Baily, a member of the Republican National Committee, was a major fund-raiser for George W. Bush's re-election campaign.

Lawyer Aivo Leimanis was detained on Nov. 17 after allegedly attempting to smuggle a mobile phone to a client held in pretrial detention. Leimanis reportedly handed one phone to prison guards but was caught with a second one, replete with a prepaid calling card, when he passed through a metal detector. Leimanis claimed that he forgot to hand over the second phone. Prison administration spokesman Karlis Serzants said that Leimanis was trying to violate the rules, making it the first such case in two years. The prison administration is currently discussing possible punishments.

Two Russian nationals were detained by border guards when they tried to leave the Baltic state by train. Both were allegedly part of a group of four that hung a sign from the 20th story of the Reveal Hotel on independence day with the message "Latvia, stop fascism." The sign was festooned with Nazi SS symbols.

The New Politics party, recently formed by the deputy mayor of Riga, Sergejs Dolgolpolovs, has changed its name to New Center after discovering that the first name had already been taken by another political entity.

The Riga Regional Court on Nov. 23 ruled that the state prosecutor had to pay 5,000 lats (7,460 euros) to Andris Ledins, who was wrongly accused of rape and held in pretrial detention for one month. Ledins claimed that the police used excessive force when dealing with him.

The state's anti-corruption bureau has fined Riga Free Port board members for a conflict of interest case over dubious insurance claims. Fines have been handed out to Riga Mayor Gundars Bojars, his deputy Sergejs Dolgopolovs, chairman of the development committee Andris Ameriks, City Council member Janis Gulbis and state representatives Viesturs Silenieks, Gints Celmins and Vladimirs Makarovs. Dolgopolovs claimed he would appeal the decision to the head of the bureau, Aleksejs Loskutovs. Since 2002, the port had issued life-insurance policies with Baltikums Dziviba for 12,000 lats (17,650 euros). According to the contract, Bojars, Ameriks, Celmins, Gulbis and Silenieks all received 9,000 lats from the policy in March of this year.