On 10 June, Senator Māris Leja took up judicial duties in the Senate's Department of Criminal Cases. The Senator will start his work after an oath taking before the President of Latvia.

Māris Leja applied for the vacant post of Senator in the Senate's Department of Criminal Cases. The General Assembly of Senators decided to support his candidature for further confirmation as a Senator. On 9 May, the Saeima (parliament) decided to confirm Māris Leja as a judge of the Supreme Court.

Māris Leja holds a doctorate in law. He is the author of more than 50 scientific publications on criminal law issues and has written monographs on criminal law issues and their solutions in Latvia, Austria, Switzerland, and Germany; the structure of a criminal offence, causation, guilt, interpretation of criminal law norms and their force in time; and fraud issues in Latvian and foreign law.

Since 2020, Māris Leja has been the Chief Prosecutor of the Division for Coordination of the Corruption Combatting of the Criminal Justice Department of the Prosecutor General's Office. He has nearly 25 years of experience as a prosecutor, of which 20 years he worked at the Prosecutor General's Office.

For the last 10 years, Māris Leja has also conducted training for investigators, prosecutors, judges and lawyers on substantive and procedural issues of criminal law.

 

Information prepared by

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

E-mail: rasma.zvejniece@at.gov.lv, telephone: +371 67020396, +371 28652211