Court reduces punishment for convicted drug smugglers

  • 2000-02-10
RIGA (BNS) – The Latvian Supreme Court on Feb. 3 reduced jail terms for two convicted on drug smuggling.

The court reduced the jail term for former Latvian Model Association manager Rolands Priverts by nearly a half, scaling it down to three years and six months.

For the model association's former president, Daira Silava, the jail term was reduced by one year to four years in jail.

The court earlier had sentenced Priverts to six years and six months in jail while Silava was sentenced to five years in jail plus confiscation of their property.

Confiscation of property is still in effect as ruled by the court Feb. 3.

Annulment can be sought in a higher court within 10 days.

Priverts' lawyer, Antons Drebnieks, said the present sentence is more just than the previous. He also could not tell before having obtained full text of the judgement if he would file for annulment.

The Supreme Court began consideration of an appeal claim by Priverts and Silava on Feb. 2. The two defendants and their lawyers insisted they had not committed the crime in an organized group and that Silava brought into Latvia nearly two kilos of cocaine as a courier under the influence of threats by persons who were not identified by the investigation.

The Riga District Court on June 17 ruled Silava and Priverts guilty in premeditated drug smuggling performed by an organized group.

The court then did not believe Silava's testimony that she had been transporting drugs under threats and viewed as credible the testimony provided by her immediately after detention on Jan. 30, 1999 when she cited her financial difficulties as a motive.

The ruling then did not specify who of the two was the leader and the organizer of the criminal group but, the prosecutor said, the harshest punishment meant it was Priverts.

Silava and Priverts were detained late in January 1999 in the Riga airport as they were found to be in possession of drugs. Silava had nearly two kilograms of cocaine on her while Priverts had less than one gram of drugs which he claimed he had taken for personal use. The prosecution, though demanded a tougher punishment for Priverts as it believed he had organized the affair.

The two defendants were transporting cocaine by plane from Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, where the price of drugs is significantly lower. It has not been determined where the two got the drugs and who was meant to receive them.