In its joint sitting, the Senate’s Department of Administrative Cases reviewed a cassation complaint of an applicant, a State Border Guard official, and left unchanged a judgment of the Regional Administrative Court, which found that the State Border Guard had rightly imposed a disciplinary punishment on the applicant and dismissed him from service in connection with the disciplinary offences found.

The Senate established that the Regional Administrative Court had properly assessed the evidence and had found that, while on duty with the State Border Guard, the applicant had arbitrarily taken several photographs and video recordings with his personal mobile phone showing the dismantling of a monument glorifying the Soviet regime, thereby performing actions unrelated to the assignment and jeopardizing the performance of that assignment. The Regional Administrative Court also correctly assessed the proportionality of the disciplinary punishment imposed, as it follows from the circumstances of the case that the applicant made a comment in Russian in the video recording, saying russkiye ne sdayutsa (Russians do not give up), and distributed this recording in an online discussion group intended for border guards, from which it later reached the public internet and the media of the aggressor countries. The Senate reminds everyone that border guards, especially in the current geopolitical situation, must carefully consider their statements, behave in a manner that does not damage the reputation of the State Border Guard, and act ethically and in accordance with the values of public administration. Although the comment made can be understood in different ways, as it is not entirely clear whether it describes the work process or expresses support for the aggression of the Russian Federation, the applicant should have been aware that such a statement could raise doubts in the public about both his own values and those of the entire border guard institution, which cannot be outweighed by the applicant's positive characterization and service record to date. Therefore, the disciplinary punishment imposed by the institution, which is related to the loss of trust in the applicant, has been reasonably recognized as proportionate, and there are no grounds for overturning the appealed judgment.

Case No SKA-180/2025 (A420134023)

 

 

Information prepared by Viesturs Lācis, Adviser in the Matters of Senate Communication

Telephone: +371 67020302; e-mail: viesturs.lacis@at.gov.lv