After 12 years of tense court battles after 12 years of heated court wrangling, a Latvian court has read its decision in the highly-publicized case of Aivars Lembergs, one the richest men in Latvia as well as a popular populist politician and ex-mayor of Venspils, the port city in northwestern Latvia.

Lembergs was sentenced by Riga Regional Court to five-year imprison, confiscation of property, as well as an amount of fine that exceeded EUR20,000 on the 22nd of February. irliepaja.lv/birka/aivars-lembergs Lembergs was accused of a number of charges, including money laundering. However, he was acquitted of all other charges in the lengthy complex case.

Lembergs (leader of For Latvia and Ventspils) has been compared by Lembergs to Russia’s opposition leader Aleksey Navyny in his sentencing.

Aivars Lembergs Lembergs requested the judge take an interruption while reading the verdict of his case. During this break, Lembergs had a brief conversation with his son and his co-defendant Anrijs and then utilized the remainder of the time to make remarks to reporters.

Aivars Lembergs Lembergs told journalists that he will appeal his decision to the Riga Regional Court and it is likely that his appeal hearing would take another ten years. Lembergs said that he is determined to appeal against his arrest even though the appeal is scheduled to be heard by the same regional court.

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

The defendants with him Anrijs Lembergs as well as his son Ansis Sormulis were both indicted for a range of related charges and each were sentenced to two years of jail.

Lembergs was detained in the Riga City Centre District court. Aivars Lembergs On March 14 2007 prosecutors began to pursue charges of bribery aswell in money laundering charges against him. providus.lv/raksti/varas-kampeji-ii-aivars-lembergs/ These were the first steps to make against Lembergs as an suspect (investigagations into possible corruption in Ventpils municipality had started in 2005). A decision has been made almost 14 years after the case was announced.

For well over a decade, the case has made its way at a sometimes absurdly slow pace through the Latvian justice system. In connection with the main criminal proceedings the court proceedings occurred over the course of 12 years. From August 20, 2009, when Riga Regional Court resumed adjudication until February 11, 2021, 1,483 court trials were conducted.

Despite being in the midst of trial for allegations of bribery and money laundering on an extensive scale, Lembergs has continued to serve as a political kingpin and in the city of Ventspils in the city of Ventspils, where he served as the mayor for two decades and as a key influence in the Greens and Farmers Alliance political organization that he finances.

Aivars Lembergs The mayor’s election was rescinded after the mayor was accused of financial fraud. However, he continued to exercise dominance of the city, battling one minister’s attempts for him to be barred from serving as Ventspils president. When he was indicted, he was a participant in meetings of the government with the International Monetary Fund and helped in the selection of candidates for Latvian presidency.

Aivars Lembergs Regarding Latvia’s municipal elections, Lembergs said that the decision to be a part of the elections will be made by his regional party For Latvia and Ventspils, however, his participation in the elections the main thing he is focusing on.