President to present state awards to auditor general and other recipients on Independence Day

RIGA - The Latvian Chapter of Orders has decided to bestow the highest state award, the Order of the Three Stars, on 31 recipients, including heads of several institutions, judges, medics, scientists, public figures and artists, according to an announcement published in the official gazette Latvijas Vestnesis.

Auditor General Elita Krumina, who is among the recipients of the decoration, will be made Grand Officer of the Order.

On November 18, 2019, marking Latvia's Independence Day, President Egils Levits will host an award ceremony in Riga Castle to present the state honors - the Order of Three Stars, Order of Viesturs and Cross of Recognition - to 74 members of the society.

The Order of the Three Stars will also be presented to US-Latvian painter and graphic artist Vija Celmina, Supreme Court judge Peteris Dzalbe, historians Inesis Feldmanis and Eriks Jekabsons and Aivars Stranga, the Rev. Guntis Kalme, German lawmaker Elisabeth Charlotte Motschmann, former US Ambassador to Latvia Nancy Bikoff Pettit, Renate Pupele, the creator and first head of the Latvian Emergency Medical Service, as well as Holocaust researcher and author Davids Zilbermanis.