Prosecutors ask for harsh prison sentences for defendants in Bunkus murder case

RIGA - During a hearing in Riga City Court on Monday, prosecutors asked for harsh prison sentences for defendants in insolvency administrator Martins Bunkus murder case, ranging from 20 years in jail to life imprisonment, LETA learned from the court.

The prosecutors want Russian national Viktor Krivoshey, who fired the shots that caused Bunkus' death, to be sentenced to life in prison.

Businessmen Aleksandrs Babenko and Mihails Ulmans, accused of ordering the hit job, are to be sentenced to 20 years in prison each, with three years' probation and confiscation of property, claim the prosecutors.

The hearings are now in the final stages.

As reported, Ulmans and Babenko have been charged with inciting or ordering murder. Ulmans has been charged also with aiding and abetting murder.

In this criminal probe, charges have also been brought against Russian national Krivoshey who fired the shots that caused Bunkus' death. Police detained him in Liepaja.

On the other hand, charges have not been brought against the organizer of the murder, because he has already died a violent death.

During the investigation, the police obtained evidence, allowing four persons to be recognized as suspects in the criminal proceedings - three Latvian citizens and one Russian citizen. The investigation provides a clear picture of the circumstances of the crime and the involved persons, including distribution of roles - from the person ordering the murder to the organizer and executor of the murder. The case has been compiled in 121 volumes.

LETA also reported, Bunkus was shot while driving his vehicle on the morning of May 30, 2018, when he drove past the Riga Forest Cemetery.

On May 24, 2022, the State Police announced that they had managed to establish practically all persons involved in the murder of Bunkus, including the hitman who shot and killed the lawyer and the person who ordered the murder. The hitman and the person who ordered the murder were among several persons taken under arrest on May 24.