Alleged assassin 'jumped off bridge'

  • 2007-10-03
  • By Talis Saule Archdeacon

TOXIC: Godmanis denied that Gulbis was "chemically coerced" while in detention, but admitted that drugs were found in his body.

RIGA - The murky circumstances surrounding the attempted escape of a presidential guard under arrest threw Latvia even deeper into scandal and have sparked widespread speculation from politicians over the integrity of state security services.
Edgars Gulbis, a security officer for both parliament and the president's office, tried to escape police custody by lunging out of a moving police van and jumping into the Daugava River from a busy Riga bridge.
However, his girlfriend, who was in a car behind the police van, is claiming that Gulbis was pushed out by police.

The incident sparked a tidal wave of speculation and poignant questions. Many wondered how a man in handcuffs and guarded by four policemen managed to jump out of a moving vehicle.
Gulbis is accused of having been involved in a car bomb attempt aimed at the head of a customs-crime investigative unit, Vladimirs Vaskevics, in May. After spending approximately one month in custody, Gulbis was released and then detained again within a week 's this time on charges of fraud.
The incident occurred while police were transporting him to a Riga precinct Sept. 26 across the Sala (Island) Bridge.

Aleksandrs Ogurcovs, Gulbis' former attorney, alleges that Gulbis was tortured while in police custody and that he was thrown off of the bridge. Ogurcovs told journalists on Sept. 28 that the courts had barred him from participating in the proceedings. Karlis Paleps has replaced Ogurcovs as Gulbis' attorney.
Gulbis' girlfriend, Iveta Steina, is alleging that he was thrown off of the bridge. She submitted an official complaint to the Interior Ministry in which she claims that after he was released from custody, Gulbis' physical condition was so poor that he had to be taken to the Military Medical Center, which then transferred him to Gailezers Hospital. She is claiming that her boyfriend was tortured.

Edgars Dimants, attorney for Raimonds Stalbergs, who also stands accused of taking part in the attempted murder, told reporters on Sept. 28 that he had evidence Gulbis was "chemically coerced" into providing false evidence against Stalbergs. He said that while Stalbergs 's currently held on five counts relating to threats on Vaskevics' life 's had been treated fairly, Gulbis had been tortured.
Interior Minister Ivars Godmanis and Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis both deny that any drugs were used on Gulbis, or that he was subjected to any form of torture. During a Sept 27 interview, however, Godmanis admitted that drug tests on the suspect had come back positive.

Police claim that Gulbis had escaped the police van while it was driving over the bridge and that the suspect had dove into the river in an attempt to escape.
There has been widespread political response to the case. New Era, a right-wing opposition party, walked out of Parliament upon hearing the news.
Kalvitis, after a Sept. 27 meeting with Godmanis and police officials over the murky circumstances, told journalists that he was confident the police were telling the truth about the escape attempt and that the statement submitted by Steina is false.

The prime minister even upped the ante, declaring there is an extremely dangerous criminal group composed of former KGB officers, former Soviet Army assault troops as well as current and former members of Latvia's special services. "No state official in this country can feel safe because it is easy to see that this criminal group has direct contact with several politicians," the prime minister said.
Kalvitis explained that the gang is involved in drug trafficking and extortion.
In an interview with Diena, a leading daily, former President Vaira Vike-Freiberga said that while head of state she had never heard of or been given any evidence testifying to the existence of such a sweeping criminal group.

Kalvitis said that the government has names and testimonies concerning the alleged gang, but that they have not yet made any arrests. Kalvitis called on President Valdis Zatlers to call an emergency Security Council meeting to discuss the supposed criminal group.

For his part, Zatlers has sent a letter to Romans Apsitis, Latvia's ombudsman, asking him to investigate questions over human rights violations in the interior ministry that the case has highlighted. In his letter, Zatlers said that the case with Gulbis is only one example of greater problems in the ministry as a whole.
"The circumstances of Gulbis detention should be viewed in a wider context with similar cases when the detained have been subjected to violence and even killed in police departments," the president's letter said.  The letter also called attention to the fact that several U.N. and EU organizations have criticized violence on the part of Latvian police officials against detainees and suspects. In an Oct. 1 interview with "900 seconds," Zatlers emphasized that the case, along with other recent incidents of corruption, indicates that something is "certainly" wrong with state security services and the state in general.