On Friday, the 6th of May, 16 employees of judiciary, inter alia, Marite Zagere, the senator of the Department of Civil Cases of the Senate, Andrejs Lepse, the judge of the Chamber of Criminal Cases and Zigrida Mita, the ex-Head of the Division of Case-law of the Supreme Court, will receive Marks of Distinction of the System of Justice. For model, honest and creative execution of duties they are awarded with the Mark of Distinction of the 3rd tier.   

The senator Marite Zagere has worked in Latvian court system for 36 years, and 20 of them have been spent in the post of a judge of the Supreme Court. M.Zagere was elected for the post of a judge of the Supreme Court in 1990, when the Supreme Court of independent Republic of Latvia was restored. When creating a three-level court system, she was approved in the post of the senator of the Department of Civil Cases of the Senate in 1995. The senator took active part in processing and discussion of draft laws, increase of qualification of judges, she read lectures in the Judicial Training Centre. In 2010, she was elected as a member of the Disciplinary Court.

The judge Andrejs Lepse has worked in judiciary for 32 years. In 1979, he started his work as a judge in Riga city October district folk court; in 1981 he was elected for the post of the Chair of Saldus district court and in 1985 – for the post of a member of the Supreme Court. In 1995, when creating the new structure of the Supreme Court, A.Lepse was the first Chair of the Chamber of Criminal Cases of the Supreme Court.   As from 1996 until 2007, Andrejs Lepse was the judge of the Constitutional Court, and then he came back in the post of the judge of the Supreme Court to the Chamber of Criminal Cases. In addition to judicial duties, he had been the vice-Chair of the Judicial Qualifications Committee of the Supreme Court, the President of Latvian Judicial Association, member of the Board of Judicial Association of Baltic States and the International Judicial Association. In 1988, when group of Latvian Popular Front was created in the Supreme Court, he was its Chairman. He read lectures and managed seminars in Judicial Training Centre and in Bank High School.   

Zigrida Mita has worked in court system for 42 years – in 1965 she started to work as the secretary of court hearings in the Supreme Court, then she had been the Head of the Department of bailiffs of the Directorate of Court Institutions in the Ministry of Justice for 24 years. She came back to the Supreme Court in 1999 and became the Head of the Division of Compilation of the Plenary Session and Case-law in 2001. In 2005, the Division of Compilation of the Plenary Session and Case-law was transformed into the Division of Case-law. Work of Zigrida Mita promoted creation of uniform case-law in the country, systematisation and accessibility of case-law.  She had created relation of the Supreme Court with legal specialists and scientists, and her contribution to development of case-law database of the Supreme Court and its inclusion in Court Information System (CIS) was significant. In 2010, Zigrida Mita has retired.

Marks of Distinction of the System of Justice have been given for the fourth time. The Ministry of Justice, the Prosecutor’s General Office and the Supreme Court created special award, when celebrating the 90th anniversary of Judicial System of the Republic of Latvia in 2008. 34 ex- and present judges and employees of the Supreme Court have been awarded with Marks of Distinction.  

 

Information prepared by

Rasma Zvejniece, the Head of the Division of Communication of the Supreme Court

E-mail: rasma.zvejniece@at.gov.lv, telephone: 67020396, 28652211