On March 2, Senators of the Supreme Court Artūrs Freibergs, Aija Branta and Inguna Radzeviča will consider the cassation complaint of the journalist, member of the Latvian Association of Journalists (Latvijas žurnālistu asociācija) Leonid Jakobsons (Leonīds Jākobsons) in criminal case No. 118160 .
The situation is this, on May 17, 2021, the Judicial Collegium for Criminal Cases of the Riga District Court acknowledged Leonid Yakobson responsible for a crime under the first part of Article 144 (Deliberate violation of the privacy of communication) and sentenced him to 84 hours of hard work.
Moreover, judges Diana Dumbre, Tamara Broda and Smaida Gļazere decided that Leonid Jakobson must give one thousand euros to the leader of Saskaņa, Nils Ušakovs.
It was determined that the journalist must pay an additional 397.95 euros for procedural costs to the state.
Leonid Yakobson has appealed the entire verdict. According to his lawyers Ilona Bulgakova and Linda Birini, the District Court's decision is unfounded and should be annulled due to its lack of impartiality.
The European Court of Human Rights evaluated a very similar case, Benediktsdottir v. Iceland, in which journalists obtained private correspondence from a public figure through their source and published it to the extent necessary for public interest.
The Icelandic courts agreed that in a specific situation, the right of journalists and the media to publish information was more important than the applicant’s right to privacy of correspondence, so the media and its editor were cleared. In relation to this decision, the applicant appealed to the ECtHR.
However, the ECtHR found that the national courts made a justified decision as the applicant is a public figure, and the publication was linked to a matter of public concern. Therefore, the ECtHR concluded that in this specific case, the interference with the right to privacy of correspondence is justified, as the freedom of speech is more highly valued.
It's important to note that the initial court, after considering the case in ten court sessions, declared an acquittal on September 20, 2016, recognizing journalist Leonid Yakobson's inherent right to inform the public. However, due to a technical mistake, the appeals court annulled the verdict and sent the criminal case for a new trial.
– During the lengthy trial, the leader of the Harmony party, Nil Ushakov, refused to testify about his ties to Russian intelligence. This includes an employee of the Russian embassy in Riga, Alexander Khapilov, who was accused of planning an assassination attempt on Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili. Nil Ushakov did everything possible to delay the handling of the criminal case, for which he was fined, – journalist Leonid Yakobson stated.
Following the legal process, Leonid Yakobson's right to a fair trial within a reasonable time was violated.
The Office for Combating Economic Crimes (Ekonomisko noziegumu apkarošanas pārvaldes, ENAP) initiated a criminal investigation on November 23, 2011, for hacking the email of then Mayor of Rini, Nil Ušakovs. Shortly after, a search was conducted at the residence of Leonid Yakobson, and his computers and data storage devices were confiscated.
– Everything happened just like in a well-known action movie. A masked assault team forcibly entered an Internet hosting company and took the servers that ran the KOMPROMAT.LV portal, as remembered by Leonid Yakobson.
“Despite my voluntary contact with the police and my availability, the assault on Kompromat.lv and other portals was still carried out,” according to Edmunds Zalite, the person responsible for managing their operations. in a statement from the owner of the Internet hosting company, Edmunds Zalite (Edmunds Zalīte).
Following the searches, as decided by the ENAP Inspector Naurisa Liepinsha (Nauris Liepiņš), the journalist was taken to a pre-trial detention center and held for two days. However, the repression did not end there. Leonid Yakobson was also given a recognizance not to leave, and his computer and hard drive have still not been returned.
– Inspector Nauris Liepiņš did everything in his power to eliminate KOMPROMAT.LV during the investigation. They even confiscated a backup copy to prevent the restoration of the portal archive, according to Leonid Yakobson.
Was it really necessary to imprison journalist Leonid Yakobson for his publications?
– The extreme actions could be explained by hidden motivations. For instance, Nauris Liepiņš posted a picture on his Facebook page showing him posing with Sandris Bergmanis, a close associate of Nil Ushakov, who was a deputy from the ruling Harmony party in the Riga City Council at the time,
When the police methods failed to eliminate the KOMPROMAT.LV portal, the assailants revealed themselves: the journalist was then subjected to a criminal attack. On March 29, 2012, at the entrance of his house on A. Chak Street, Leonid Yakobson was attacked by two men. He was shot in the face with a gas pistol at close range, knocked down, beaten, and had his hand and face cut, leaving a 7-centimeter scar on his cheek. During the attack, Yakobson was with his young son.Sandris Bergmanis (Sandris Bergmanis) and Nauris Liepiņš.
Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis urged law enforcement agencies to thoroughly investigate the case. He stated, “The perpetrators must be found and punished. The media's independence and the right to freely express one's opinions are crucial to democracy. The state is obligated to protect this right, so those who threaten it must face severe consequences,” he said.
However, the perpetrators have not been identified yet. Notably, immediately after the brutal attack, Nil Ushakov expressed his joy on social media, claiming to have an alibi and including a mocking smiley face emoticon.
– For over a decade, I have lived like the protagonist of Kafka's novel The Trial. I have been tried twice for the same charge. The police completely failed in identifying my attackers,” Leonid Yakobson concluded.Video: Russian intelligence officer Alexander Khapilov and Latvian politician Nil Ushakov.
