17 April, 2020
According to a survey of those involved in the court proceedings, ensuring the presence of witnesses, late submission of evidence and the need to obtain additional evidence are among the most common reasons for lengthy court proceedings. The survey, conducted by a working group set up by the Supreme Court, involved almost 1,000 judges, lawyers and prosecutors.
31 March, 2020
On March 31, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court accepted oaths of office of four notaries.
Arita Rateniece, Dace Elksne, Ilze Roze and Kristine Sapcenko have joined the community of sworn notaries. Arita Rateniece and Kristine Sapcenko will perform their duties in the area of operation of Vidzeme Regional Court in Cesis, but Dace Elksne – inVidzeme Regional Court in Aluksne. Ilze Roze will work as a sworn notary in the Kurzeme Regional Court in Ventspils.
30 March, 2020
At the sitting of March 30, the Judicial Council supported the candidature of Aigars Strupiss, Chair of the Department of Civil Cases, nominated by the judges of the Supreme Court, for the position of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court for the next five years.
27 March, 2020
On March 26, the Constitutional Court passed a judgment in the case No 2019-15-01 “On the Compliance of Section 564, Paragraph seven, Third Sentence and Section 570, Paragraph one of the Criminal Procedure Law with the First Sentence of Article 92 of the Satversme of the Republic of Latvia”, recognizing that provisions governing the time-limit for submission of a cassation complaint in criminal proceedings comply with the Satversme (Constitution).
23 March, 2020
On March 23, Ivars Bickovics, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, participated in a meeting of heads of state constitutional organs convened by Egils Levits, President of Latvia, to decide on the basic principles of operation of the State in the emergency situation.
President of Latvia Egils Levits, Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins, Speaker of the Saeima Inara Murniece, President of the Constitutional Court Ineta Ziemele and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Ivars Bickovics discussed how to legitimize the continuation of the state administration during the time when Saeima deputies and government members have to self-isolate for 14 days due to outbreak of Covid-19.
23 March, 2020
Having examined the request of a judge of the Administrative District Court to decide on the jurisdiction of the issue of establishing a fact of the transfer of an undertaking, at the sitting of March 12 the chairs of the Supreme Court departments acknowledged that this issue is subordinated to the recovery of the tax debt, which the State Revenue Service implements under undisputed procedure within the framework of the administrative proceedings.
17 March, 2020
On March 13, the Constitutional Court adopted a judgment in the case No 2019-13-01 “On Compliance of Section 464 (41) of the Civil Procedure Law with the First Sentence of Article 92 of the Satversme of the Republic of Latvia”, that is, on refusal to initiate cassation proceedings in a civil case in the form of a resolution. The Constitutional Court acknowledged that this provision is in conformity with the Satversme (Constitution).
25 February, 2020
On February 25-26, the conference “Past, Present, Future” takes place in Doha, Qatar, attended by representatives of judiciaries from all over the world. Among them are the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Ivars Bickovics, the Chair of the Department of Civil Cases Aigars Strupiss and the Chair of the Department of Administrative Cases Veronika Krumina. The conference is organized by the Global Judicial Integrity Network and is supported by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Supreme Judiciary Council of Qatar.
24 February, 2020
In February, in the framework of the project “The role of judge assistants in effective work organization of the Supreme Court”, Mikelis Zumbergs, judge assistant of the Department of Administrative Cases, Sanita Jefimova and Agnese Adgere, judge assistants of the Department of Criminal Cases, and, Elina Purena, judge assistant of the Department of Civil Cases, visited Sweden for the exchange of experience.
18 February, 2020
At the Annual Plenary Session on the report of Supreme Court's performance Peteris Dzalbe, Chair of the Department of Criminal Cases of the Senate, while speaking about the ongoing reforms of the judicial system when "one reform has not yet been completed, another reform has already been announced", criticized the idea of establishing the Economic Court. "It is not clear how it will fit into the judicial system enshrined in the Satversme (constitution), moreover, this court is focused on the past, not the future," Peteris Dzalbe emphasized.
