On Friday, 31 January, Jānis Bordāns, the Minister of Justice, sent to Mattias Tesfaye, the Minister for Immigration and Integration of Denmark, the detailed information in the case of the Latvian national Kristīne Misāne. The discussion between J.Bordāns and the Danish minister took a place already last week in Zagreb, during the informal meeting of the EU ministers of justice and the interior, agreeing on the provision of information.
High appreciation was expressed in the letter sent to the minister of Denmark regarding the participation of the competent authorities of the Kingdom of Denmark in the case of K.Misāne. At the same time J.Bordāns shows the interest of Latvia to search for a joint solution, in order to suspend the extradition of K.Misāne to the Republic of South Africa, on the basis of potential violation of safety and human rights.
Currently, the representatives of K.Misāne deal with the issue, in order the refusal adopted by the Immigration Service of Denmark regarding request for asylum of K.Misāne would be appealed to the Refugee Appeals Board of Denmark, the work of which is provided by the Ministry of Immigration and Integration and were a representative appointed by the ministry acts.
At the same time, a solution of being prepared for the case, if the competent authorities of Denmark will still extradite K.Misāne to the Republic of South Africa, regardless of the efforts of the Latvian authorities and officials.
The Latvian part is performing all necessary measures, in order to enter into the bilateral agreement between the government of the Republic of Latvia and the government of the Republic of South Africa regarding international cooperation in criminal cases. The Ministry of Justice has prepared and already sent to the Minister of Justice of the Republic of South Africa a letter with request to become acquainted with the draft bilateral agreement and to provide information about the time period, when the competent authorities of the Republic of South Africa would be ready to commence the negotiated procedure for conclusion of the agreement.
That would enable, at first, the Office of the Prosecutor General to use the regulation provided for in the CPL with regard to takeover of a criminal proceedings commenced by a foreign country, or already in the next stage - after trial of the case - the Ministry of Justice could perform all necessary measures, in order to ensure enforcement of the punishment related to deprivation of liberty, imposed by a foreign country, in Latvia.
The Minister of Justice emphasizes that the ministry has performed every possible support in the case of K.Misāne and is ready within the framework of its competence to perform measures, in order to facilitate positive outcome of the case of K.Misāne.