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Following 12 years of tense courtroom wrangling the Latvian Court has handed down its decision on Aivars LEMBERS’ high-profile trial. The defendant is among the nation’s wealthiest men and a prominent political figure in the populist camp. The man was also the former mayor of Venspils in northwestern Latvia.

Aivars Lembergs On February 22, Riga Regional Court sentenced Lembergs to five years in prison along with confiscation of assets and a fine of EUR20,000 after finding him guilty on several charges related to bribery and money-laundering, while acquitting him on some other charges in the tangled and lengthy investigation.

Lembergs leader of For Latvian as well as Ventspils and Ventspils, has compared Lembergs sentence to the sentencing of the Russian opposition leader Aleksey Nailny.

When the judge was reading the verdict of the case, Lembergs requested for a break of just a few minutes which was granted to him. Lembergs had a quick conversation during that break with his son Anrijs. He utilized the remaining time to speak to journalists.

Lembergs has told reporters that his appeal to the Riga Regional Court decision will be decided. It was also expected that the hearing of the appeal could take up to an entire decade. Lembergs stated that he was determined to appeal his arrest even though the appeal will be heard by the same court.

In the wake of the verdict’s reading the court decided to immediately take Lembergs into custody.

Aivars Lembergs His co-defendants Anrijs Lembergs along with his son and Ansis Sormulis both were found guilty of a range of related charges and each were sentenced to two-year terms.

Aivars Lembergs Aivars Lembergs Lembergs was handcuffed and taken to Riga City Centre Court on 14 March 2007. It was the beginning of the prosecution’s efforts to bring him up to speed with the latest allegations of money laundering and bribery. The investigation into allegations of corruption in Ventpils had begun in 2005. Now, nearly 14 years on, a decision has been handed down.

Since well over a ten year period, the case has been moving in a slow, and sometimes insane pace through the Latvian justice system. In the twelve-year period there were 770 court hearings scheduled in connection with the principal criminal proceedings. Since August 20, 2009 when the Riga Regional Court resumed adjudication of the case, up to February 11, 2021 a total of 1,483 court hearings have been scheduled.

Despite being on trial on allegations of bribery, as well as money laundering on a massive amount, Lembergs has continued to serve as a leader in the political arena, as well as in the city of Ventspils in the city of Ventspils, where he served as the mayor for two decades and as a prominent influence within the Greens and Farmers Alliance political organization that he finances.

After being found guilty of financial crimes, his election as mayor was rescheduled. lv.baltnews.com/tags/simple_Aivars_Lembergs/ However, he still had the power to make decisions and thwarted a minister’s efforts to block his election as Ventspils mayor. He even took part in the IMF’s government meetings and helped select the candidates for the Latvian presidency.

Lembergs expressed his opinion on the forthcoming elections in Latvia He said Ventspils as well as his regional party For Latvia will make the choice to be part of the elections. But, his primary concern is not currently his participation.