A case initiated regarding the regime for serving the sentence of deprivation of liberty for men, who have been convicted form committing a serious or a particularly serious crime
On 28 December 2018, the 3rd Panel of the Constitutional Court initiated the case “On Compliance of Section 504 of the Sentence Execution Code of Latvia with Article 91 of the Satversme of the Republic of Latvia”.
The Contested Norm
Section 504 of the Sentence Execution Code of Latvia (hereinafter – the Code) establishes the regime for serving the sentence in closed prisons, inter alia, that men, who have been sentenced to the deprivation of liberty for committing a serious or a particularly serious crime, serve the sentence in a closed prison.
The Norm of Higher Legal Force
Article 91 of the Satversme of the Republic of Latvia (hereinafter – the Satversme): “All human beings in Latvia shall be equal before the law and the courts. Human rights shall be realised without discrimination of any kind.”
The Facts
The case was initiated with respect to an application submitted by Andris Otto. The applicant has been convicted to deprivation of liberty. Pursuant to Section 504 of the Code, he began serving his sentence at a closed prison at the lowest level of sentence serving regime. The Applicant holds that the particular norm in incompatible with Article 91 of the Satversme as it causes a situation, where the men, who have been sentenced for serious and particularly serious crimes, begin serving their sentence of deprivation of liberty at the lowest level of sentence serving regime at a closed prison. Whereas the women, who have been sentenced for serious and particularly serious crimes, begin serving their sentence at the lowest level of sentence serving regime at a partly-closed prison. Accordingly, the scope of the rights and obligations that these persons have at the institution for deprivation of liberty, are said to differ.
Legal Proceedings
The Constitutional Court has requested the Saeima to provide a reply on the facts of the case and legal substantiation by 28 February 2019.
The term for preparing the case is 28 May 2019. The Court shall decide upon the procedure and the date for hearing the case after the case has been prepared.
Open in PDF: 2018_25_01_PR_par_ierosinasanu_ENG
Linked case: 2018-25-01