Contrary to predictions of a decrease in the volume of incoming cases, the Senate's Department of Criminal Cases received 51 more cases last year. The Department also examined more cases, the average length of proceedings was 20 days shorter, it was decided on the initiation of cassation proceedings in an average of 2.3 months, and cases were examined in an average of 9 months. "Consequently, we have succeeded to meet the recommended deadlines for handling cases. However, we could not beat the rate of incoming cases. As the statistics show, the rate of examined cases is 96%. At the end of 2024, there was only one pending case received in 2023, but today it is examined," said Anita Poļakova, Chair of the Department of Criminal Cases, at the Annual Report Plenary Session of the Supreme Court.

The number of cases and the timeframe of examination of cases are not exhaustive measures of workload, work intensity and resources required. The Chair of the Department elaborated on this, both by describing the achievements of the past year and by outlining the challenges of this year and the means to avoid turning challenges into problems.

Last year, among other cases, the so-called ‘Zolitūde case’ was examined, in which a cassation protest and 32 cassation appeals were lodged. When describing the complexity of this case and the resources required to deal with it, it should be borne in mind that it involved questions of law not previously analysed within case-law. The Senate explained the content of the concept of causation and formulated a method for verifying the existence of a causal link. This case is therefore significant as there are new case-law findings in criminal law.

This case was examined alongside 530 other cases. In order to do so within a reasonable timeframe, it was necessary to vary the workload of senators taking into account the incoming cases and the assignment of legal research counsels to work with specific cases. "This was certainly an opportunity to improve the way the Department handles high-volume cases and distributes the workload, but it also highlighted the challenges for 2025," said the Chair. With one of the so-called 'digital television' cases and another voluminous case now in the final stages of examination and with the Department not operating in full its composition, there will inevitably be a backlog of cases which will have an impact on work next year and the year after. The Chair of the Department therefore requested that an additional senator be assigned to the Department of Criminal Cases for at least one year.

As regards the content of the Department's work in the past year, the Chair referred to two areas of extensive research work: money laundering and offences against the national security.

Another topic which the Department had paid increased attention to was the efficiency and development prospects of the cassation instance.

The issue of cases repeatedly returning to the Senate for cassation has been raised. At the request of the Department, the Division of Case-law and Research carried out a study on cases which came before the Senate at least twice in 2023 (including those which ended with a refusal to initiate cassation proceedings). There were 33 such cases out of 665 cases. The 17 cases which came before the Senate for at least the third time were subject to a more rigorous analysis. The Department considered the scope of Section 587, Paragraph one, Clause 4 of the Criminal Procedure Law, which provides for the possibility for the cassation court to amend a decision. In 2024, the scope of application of this rule has been extended in practice – an appellate court’s decision was amended in 9 cases.

Another direction of improving the efficiency of the cassation court is the decisions on initiation or refusal to initiate cassation proceedings. Compared to 2023, the number of cases in which cassation proceedings were refused has increased by 5%. Thus, for the second year in a row, the number of refusals has been increasing. The Chair of the Department attributes this mainly to a more scrupulous look at whether a case in question contains indications of legal grounds for reviewing a court ruling and whether the case is of significant importance for the development of case-law.

The Department has continued its cooperation with regional courts by meeting and discussing the most recent case-law, reasons for annulments of court rulings and topical issues raised by regional court judges. A new form of cooperation has been initiated – meetings with presidents of collegiums of criminal cases of regional courts.

The Department continued to participate in the provision of student internships in the Senate, in the training of judges in the Judicial Training Centre, in the Commission for the Selection of Candidates to the Office of a Judge, in the Judicial Qualification Committee, in the Judicial Disciplinary Committee, in the Judicial Ethics Commission, in the Disciplinary Court, in the Uniform State Professional Qualification Examination of a Lawyer, in the independent working groups on the Criminal Law and the Criminal Procedure Law. Cooperation with trainee judges has been successful and the Department has been more active in communicating with the media.

  • The full report of Anita Poļakova, Chair of the Department of Criminal Cases of the Senate, will be published in the next issue of the Supreme Court Bulletin

 

More about the Annual Plenary Session of the Supreme Court:

 

Information prepared by

Rasma Zvejniece, Head of the Division of Communication of the Supreme Court

E-mail: rasma.zvejniece@at.gov.lv, telephone: +371 67020396, +371 28652211