Latvia pushes Sweden to reopen road deaths case

RIGA - A road accident four years ago in which two Latvian policewomen died after being hit by a Swedish citizen has recently been under scrutiny, as Latvian authorities try to convince Sweden to reopen the case.

Meanwhile, a manhunt is on for the driver, Bo Johansson.

On the highway between Riga and Ainazi, Johansson was driving a rented car late on July 4, 1997. Witnesses here testified that he hit and killed two Latvian policewomen as they were crossing the road. They died on the scene.

Oncoming traffic forced him to use low beams, and therefore his vision was limited, Swedish prosecutor Barbro Herrmann told The Baltic Times.

The two officers, it was later proven in an autopsy report, were under the influence of alcohol. Johansson was never arrested, but the investigating prosecutor made him sign a document promising he would not leave the country, which Johansson did on the following day.

The case was then sent to the Swedish prosecutor general's office in Stockholm where it was assigned to Herrmann. After what she described as a very thorough investigation the case was shelved, on the basis that it was a minor offense with mitigating circumstances.

According to Herrmann, Johansson could have at most been fined by the court because the women contributed to the accident by being on the highway under the influence of alcohol.

Latvian Prosecutor General Janis Maizitis said in a radio interview on May 22 that he had been discussing the case with Swedish officials and that the Latvian side had submitted new documents to Sweden requesting reconsideration of the decision not to prosecute Johansson.

On May 29, a letter was sent in which Maizitis asked his Swedish counterparts to provide information on the possibility of the victims' relatives claiming damages.

Johansson has been wanted by Interpol as of May 15 this year, Dzintra Subrovska, spokeswoman for the prosecutors' office confirmed.

So far authorities have been unable to find him.

Alla Ignatjeva, transportation prosecutor's office chief, told local journalists that the Riga Regional Court had ordered Johansson's arrest.

Ignatjeva stated earlier that Johansson's guilt had been proven by the Latvian pre-trial investigation, and that he could be sentenced from three to 15 years in prison.

Swedish lawyers are looking into the possibility of extraditing Johansson. However, any further development in this case "will depend on the decisions of Swedish officials of higher rank," Maizitis said.

According to witnesses who testified in the Latvian pre-trial investigation, Johansson was speeding and did not try to avoid hitting the two women. During interrogations in Sweden, according to Herrmann, Johansson said he could not try to avoid the women since he could not see them walking on the highway so late in the evening. There was a clear lack of brake marks on the road.