Two men sentenced in Dobele: one threatened a woman with a baseball bat, the other gave false testimony

The Zemgale District Court in Dobele, Latvia, has heard two related criminal cases concerning testimony given in a criminal proceeding. The defendants, Valentīns A. and Deniss K., were both sentenced to imprisonment, and the verdicts have entered into force.

Valentīns A. was charged with coercing a person into giving false testimony. According to the charges, he used threats of violence in an attempt to influence a suspect, Violeta, so that she would give untrue statements. Deniss K. was charged with knowingly giving false testimony. He was a witness in that criminal proceeding.

Conversation at the bus station

The indictment states that in the summer of 2021 Valentīns, then a suspect in another criminal case, met Violeta on the territory of the Dobele bus station. He had been placed under a restraining measure that forbade him from approaching Violeta, who was a suspect in the same case. Seeking to avoid criminal liability, Valentīns demanded that she change the testimony she had earlier given. When Violeta replied that she would not, he told her she was lucky that they were in the centre of Dobele, where video surveillance cameras operate, and not somewhere else. Violeta took this as a threat to her health and life.

Second meeting in a car park

In September of the same year Valentīns met Violeta again, in a car park by a shop. Violeta was sitting in a car when he approached her with prior intent. She immediately said she would not give false testimony and did not wish to talk to him. This angered Valentīns. He took a baseball bat from the boot of his car and, holding it, threatened to smash her head with it. Violeta again perceived this as a real danger to her health and life.