Background 

Dzintra Elberte’s husband, Egils, died in 2001. 

Dzintra was distraught when her husband’s body was returned to her with his legs tied together. He had to be buried like this. 

Two years later, the police contacted Dzintra. They were investigating allegations of the illegal removal of organs and tissue from dead bodies between 1994 and 2003. Tissue had been taken from Egils’ body after his death without Dzintra’s knowledge or consent.

Under a state-approved agreement, Egils’ body tissue was removed and sent off to be transformed into bio-implants. Medical experts said that Egils’ passport did not contain a stamp to show that he wished to opt-out of donating. Dzintra claimed that they could not have checked this because her husband’s passport was at home. 

The experts believed that, legally, they only had to check whether the potential donor was opposed to the removal of organs or tissue during their lifetime. If relatives objected, their wishes were respected, but the experts did not actively try to contact them. 

Police and prosecutors disagreed on whether the experts should have only removed organs or tissue when it had been expressly allowed by a potential donor or by their relatives. 

The criminal investigation was closed and reopened several times because of these conflicting views. A final decision was reached when a Latvian court ruled, in 2008, that the experts did not break the law by not informing relatives of their intentions to remove tissue from the bodies of their loved ones.