President of Latvia urges to improve amendments to the Criminal Law

“In the current geopolitical situation, the country must take proactive steps to protect its interests and security, including by improving the framework of penal law,” stressed President of Latvia Raimonds Vējonis, when appreciating the incentive undertaken by the Standing committees of the Saeima (Latvian Parliament) to improve the Criminal Law. The state must have efficient tools to prevent any threat to independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, and democratic statehood of our country.

 

Having been acquainted with the Saeima-led amendments to the Criminal Law, the President of Latvia concluded that such a significant issue for the country was decided in a hasty manner. Promotion of the bill so urgently prevented sufficient discussion of the new legal framework and limited the opportunities for drafting of legal provisions, which complied with the Satversme (Latvian Constitution) and international commitments.

 

“The proposed wording of the Criminal Law provisions are extremely widely interpretable and can lead to infringement of fundamental rights. Freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, and freedom of association, as well as the rule of law are core values of our country. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a clear and unambiguous legal framework that does not allow any chance for infringement of those fundamental rights,” noted Raimonds Vejonis.