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After 12 years of tense court wrangling after 12 years of heated court wrangling, a Latvian court has handed down its decision in the highly-publicized trial of Aivars Lembergs, one of the country’s richest men, an influential populist politician, and former mayor of Venspils, the port city in northwestern Latvia.

Lembergs was sentenced on February 22 by the Riga Regional Court. Aivars Lembergs He was found guilty on a range of charges that included money laundering as well as the use of bribery.

Lembergs (leader of For Latvia and Ventspils) has been compared by Lembergs to the Russian opposition leader Aleksey Navalny in his sentencing.

When the judge was reading the verdict in the case, Lembergs pleaded for a brief break and was granted him. Lembergs had a quick chat during the break with his son Anrijs. Aivars Lembergs He then utilized the remaining time to comment to journalists.

Lembergs told the journalists that he will appeal against the decision of Riga Regional Court and predicted that the process of hearing his appeal could take another 10 years. Lembergs stated that he intends to appeal against his detention. But, the appeal will be heard only by the same regional Court.

The court ordered the taking of Lembergs into custody immediately after reading the verdict, which included the reading of an incredibly extensive list of property and other assets, and assets of offshore companies across multiple jurisdictions that the court said it would take away.

The codefendants of his, Anrijs Lembergs son and Ansis Solmulis business associate were also found guilty. Aivars Lembergs They each received two-year prison sentences.

On the 14th of March 2007, there was a furore in the media when, encased in handcuffs, Lembergs was taken to the Riga City Centre District Court when prosecutors made their first attempts to bring allegations of bribery and laundering on a huge scale against Lembergs as an individual (investigations into a link between suspicions of corruption within the Ventpils municipality started in 2005). A verdict has been reached more than 14 years after the event.

For more than a year, the case has moved at a slow and sometimes insane pace through the Latvian justice system. In connection with the criminal proceedings in the main the court proceedings were held over 12 years. Since August 20, 2009 the date that the Riga Regional Court resumed adjudication of the case, up to February 11, 2021, 1483 hearings in court have been scheduled.

Aivars Lembergs Lembergs was acquitted of charges of bribery and money laundering at a high level. However, he’s continued to be a politician in Ventspils which he served as mayor for twenty-five years and also has a significant role within the Greens and Farmers Alliance party organization he finances.

While his mayorship was disqualified due to financial fraud however, he maintained his power in the city and rejected a minister’s attempt to stop him from acting as Ventspils mayor. He was even a participant in the IMF’s government meetings , and was a part of the selection process for people who would be the Latvian presidency.

Regarding Latvia’s municipal elections, Lembergs said that the choice of whether to participate in these elections will be decided by his local party For Latvia and Ventspils, however, his participation in the elections is at present not his primary concern. Aivars Lembergs