On 9 May, at Riga Castle, President of Latvia Egils Levits met with Iluta Lāce, Head of "Centrs MARTA", to discuss how to prevent domestic violence, especially against women.
E. Levits and I. Lāce agreed that the state has not done everything possible to reduce violence in society. The President emphasized that a tragedy like the one in Jēkabpils must not be repeated, and therefore there must be changes and improvements in three directions.
Firstly, systemic changes in legislation are needed, as the means currently at the disposal of the police, the prosecutor's office and the courts are too weak to prevent personal danger. The legal powers of law enforcement agencies need to be expanded so that they can take action not only against individual episodes of violence, but against the behaviour of the perpetrator as a whole. This should also be punished more severely.
President Levits welcomed the fact that work on the draft law "Amendments to the Criminal Code" had already started at today's meeting of the Legal Commission of the Saeima.
Secondly, the education and professional qualification of law enforcement officials, specifically on domestic violence and violence against women, needs to be strengthened. When a person's request for protection (especially a repeated request) is received and the appropriate remedies are not provided (as is already the case under the law), this shows a lack of knowledge and understanding. Alongside the strengthening of professional qualifications, a change in attitudes and improved inter-institutional cooperation are also needed.
The President also called on the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of the Interior to develop guidelines that would methodically assist both in assessing the risk of violence and in managing the process of investigations and adjusting sanctions.
Thirdly, the legislator should introduce a new security measure - electronic monitoring. In the President's opinion, this could be a particularly effective tool in such cases of personal danger. The President of Latvia also called on the legislator to reflect on the possibility of preventive isolation of the perpetrator if he systematically violates the prohibition to approach the person threatened.
At the same time, E. Levits reiterated that the state was fully to blame for the murder of the woman in Jēkabpils. The state's duty to protect people stems from the Constitution, so everything possible should be done to ensure that Latvia's criminal justice policy is primarily focused on protecting the victim, not on extending the rights of the criminal.
