The imprisonment of Alexander Lavent, former chairman of the Banka Baltija supervisory board, is politically motivated, according to Roman Bronfman, an Israeli Democratic Choice MP, who visited Latvia at the invitation of Janis Jurkans, an MP in the For Human Rights in a United Latvia coalition.
The trial judge, Inara Steinerte, has demonstrated bias against Lavent in her comments to the media, said Haim Milstein, an adviser to Bronfman. Lavent, who was arrested in 1995 and has been in prison for much of the intervening period, has filed a complaint in the European Court of Human Rights.
"The universal assumption that a person is innocent until proven guilty has been brutally infringed, " said Joseph Chelouche, another adviser to Bronfman. "He shouldn't be treated as a convicted man. Something is wrong when he has spent five years in prison."
Bronfman expressed disappointment that he had not been allowed to visit Lavent.
But Steinerte rejected the criticisms, saying that Lavent's imprisonment reflects the seriousness of the charges against him.
"When deciding on security measures the gravity of the charges and the personality of the accused are taken into account," she said. She also rejected charges of bias.
"I have made no assertions as to his being guilty or not guilty," she said.
"How can he (Bronfman) express his opinion after half an hour in the courtroom? This is a very complex case. We have spent about a year listening to witnesses in court."
Steinerte also questioned Bronfman's motives in requesting to meet Lavent. EU countries, she said, also restrict access to those remanded whilst on trial.
"It isn't allowed for just anyone to walk in from the street and meet a prisoner," she said. "We have to ask if these people are personally interested in the outcome."
Lavent's "capricious" behavior had further prolonged the trial, she said.
Lavent, with fellow defendants Talis Freimanis and Alvis Lidums, is charged with damaging Latvia's monetary system, misappropriation of property and related crimes. Delays in the trial have fueled speculation about manipulation of the process by people who could gain from the defendants' detention, said Boriss Cilevics, human rights campaigner and also an MP in the For Human Rights in a United Latvia coalition.
"The length of Lavent's detention demonstrates the weakness of our judicial system," he said.
"Too few people are well-informed or rich enough to go to the European Court of Human Rights when they have good cause. If such complaints were upheld there would be improvements to the system."
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