Latvia
ENTRY INTO FORCE of the European Convention on Human Rights
27 June 1997
Number of implemented cases*
109
Examples
A father’s fight for justice leads to better police oversight
Maigonis Emars had serious concerns about the police investigation into his daughter’s death. The European Court of Human Rights agreed, ruling that the murder probe was neither appropriate nor independent. In response to the court’s judgment, Latvia took steps to improve the independence of investigations to try to stop the same thing from ever happening again.
Latvia
Clearer rules on consent after a widow was not told about the removal of tissue from her late husband’s body
Dzintra Elberte discovered that tissue had been removed from her late husband’s body without her knowledge or consent. The European court ruled that the law in this area was unclear and open to abuse, and that Dzintra suffered unduly because of what had happened. Latvia responded to the judgment by bringing in clearer rules on consent for donation.
Failure to investigate death of a disabled man in police custody leads to reforms
Valdis Jasinskis was deaf and mute. He fell down some stairs outside a party and banged his head. The police were told about his injury and his disability, but they locked him in a cell and ignored his attempts to communicate. Mr Jasinskis later died in hospital, and the incident was not properly investigated. This led to a series of measures to help make sure that the police can be properly...
New rules on detention after man subjected to inhuman prison conditions
After committing an administrative offence, Arnis Kadiķis was kept with four other detainees in a cell measuring only 6m2, with no window, bed or opportunity to leave for 15 days. The Strasbourg court ruled that these conditions amounted to degrading treatment. After the imprisonment, substantial reforms were made to conditions in Latvian prisons.
* This figure includes all judgments and decisions from the European Court of Human Rights (including friendly settlements) concerning which the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers has decided that all necessary follow-up measures have been taken. Source: the database of the Department for the Execution of Judgments of the ECHR, HUDOC-EXEC.