The latest issue of the Supreme Court Bulletin features an overview of the Supreme Court's work in 2025. It includes statistics and reports prepared by chairs of Senate Departments, analyzing the most significant legal issues and rulings of the past year. There are reports of the Division of Case-law and Research and the Administration, and a summary given by the President of the Supreme Court.

The section on legal insights contains two presentations by Senator Sanita Osipova, which examine the issue of statehood from various angles and both in relation to academic freedom and in relation to reading. Meanwhile, Zinaīda Indrūna, a consultant to the Division of Case-law and Research, examines a concept of defamation that is relatively seldom addressed in Latvian legal literature and is defined in the Latvian Conversation Dictionary as insulting a person's honour or bringing them into disrepute.

Inga Bērtaite-Pudāne, a legal research counsel to the Department of Administrative Cases, has shared her valuable experience gained at the Court of Justice of the European Union, as since June 1, 2025, she has been serving as a national expert at the Research and Documentation Directorate of the Court of Justice. In the article, she explains how the work of the Directorate contributes not only the Court of Justice of the European Union and the General Court, but can also be useful to Latvian courts. Several senators have also gained valuable experience during their missions that may be useful to a wider readership, namely there are insights into European Union criminal law, current issues of intellectual property law, in particular focusing on mediation in intellectual property disputes, gender equality in EU law, the values of private international law, and even the legacy of King Sejong in the development of justice and the rule of law in Korea.

The section on legal practice includes decisions of the Meeting of Chairs of Senate Departments, a decision of the General Meeting of Senators of the Department of Criminal Cases, and a review of the Senate's dialogue with the Court of Justice of the European Union and the Constitutional Court over the past year. This Supreme Court Bulletin issue devotes more space to criminal law: Evija Vīnkalna, a legal research counsel to the Department of Criminal Cases, reviews judicial practice in cases involving illegal crossing of the state border, illegal transfer of persons across the state border, and provision of opportunities for illegal residence in the Republic of Latvia. Aleksandra Azeva, a legal research counsel to the Department of Criminal Cases, has provided an overview of the Department of Criminal Cases case-law decisions adopted in 2025, which raise issues regarding the subject of a criminal offense and the subject of the commission of a criminal offense.

The history section features a discussion held at the National Library of Latvia on the topic of legal periodicals published in the post-national awakening period and a broader overview of the history of the Supreme Court Bulletin.

The section "From the Other Side" features a conversation with a family whose specialty is criminal law – Jānis Rozenbergs, Senator of the Senate’s Department of Criminal Cases, and Kristīne Strada-Rozenberga, Vice-Rector for Studies at the University of Latvia and former Dean of the Faculty of Law of the University of Latvia.

The Supreme Court Bulletin is published twice a year. It is distributed to Latvian courts and other judicial institutions, libraries, and law faculties of higher education institutions. Issue No 32 of the Bulletin is still being printed in a printing house, but it is already available electronically on the Court's website in the Latvian language.

 

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