President: work done by Latvia’s office of the prosecutor is below average level

The office of the prosecutor in Latvia currently works below the average level, said Latvia’s President Egils Levits in an interview to TV3 programme Nekā personīga.

Spring 2020 marks the end of the term for prosecutor general Ēriks Kalnmeiers. A personnel selection process has commenced to pick the next head of this institution. There are currently eight candidates.

«You have to see the role of the office of the prosecutor in the country. You have to see problems as well. I would say until now the office of the prosecutor has worked on an average level. It may not even reach the average level. I may be below average,» said the politician.

According to the president, the insufficient quality of the work of the office of the prosecutor may be related to weak education in Law, insufficient professionalism and established routine.

«The main problem is that education in law and criminal investigations is not on a sufficient enough level. This has been the case for a long time. And this should be the focus in a medium-term perspective,» says Levits.

Read also: BNN investigation | end of Kalnmeiers’ term; [in]action stains remain

Levits admits that generally the level of education among prosecutors is generally better than education of investigators, so it may be possible to increase the role of prosecutors in the first stages of investigations without having them «lead the process instead of passively observing it». This would allow police to work on the order of prosecutors.

«Every prosecutor is in his or her position for the first time, and this is an incredibly important post. It may turn out the prosecutor is fit for the post. This would be great. But it may turn out the prosecutor is not fit the for the post, which means the entire country would have to wait for five years until the end of their mandate. There needs to be a system to ensure this responsibility. This is not about criminal violations – everything is fine and clear there. We have to develop a new system that would outline this responsibility. For example, if because of reasons difficult to explain the office of the prosecutor is unable to deal with a large number of unsolved cases, it becomes a problem for society, not just the office of the prosecutor,» added the president.