In September 2020, the Committee of Ministers decided to end the supervision of the execution of the European Court’s judgment in Balajevs and Ostrovenecs v. Latvia. These cases concerned ill-treatment by State police escort officers in the premises of the Riga Regional Court in 2006 and 2010 and lack of effective investigations into these events.
In response to these judgments, in 2015 an Internal Control Bureau was created in the State Police aimed at strengthening service discipline and full compliance of police agents with domestic laws. Moreover, a Law on the Internal Security Bureau entered into force the same year. The Bureau is now tasked with conducting all investigations against prison and police officials. It is institutionally and practically independent from prison authorities and the police, is supervised by the Minister of the Interior, has a separate budget, its own premises and regional units.
