Hermanis writes on Facebook: “For a week now, my phone has been tapped in a rather sloppy and brutal way (they don’t even try very hard). And I don’t really care because there’s nothing to hide. However, this morning I found out that yesterday they dug into the phone (at a higher security level, a warning from the US simply comes) also of the person I was in contact with these days about political topics. This only proves once again how pathetic an organization “New Unity” is, which uses security agencies to spy on its opponents and therefore finances it with taxpayers’ money. Although Siliņa (candidate for the post of prime minister – Ed.) did not hide anything when [LTV žurnālistam] Röder openly admitted that he has been given the task of spying on his opponents, and this is normal for them.”
Recently, Hermanis has been very active on Facebook, sharing his opinion on political developments in Latvia and expressing himself very sharply and critically.
Wiretapping equipment in Latvia is officially only under the supervision of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, and all other people who want to eavesdrop from law enforcement authorities, after obtaining permission, receive technical support directly there.
In cases where immediate action is required to prevent or detect particularly serious crimes – murder, banditry, terrorism or the organization of mass riots – operative actions can also be carried out with the consent of the prosecutor, but the judge’s approval must be obtained within the next working day or no later than 72 hours. If Hermani does listen, there is hardly any reason to suspect serious crimes and the question arises on what basis the judge’s permission was obtained – if any at all.
In Latvia, there have been situations when it was revealed that the wiretapping of individual employees was carried out without sufficient grounds, and this ended in several public scandals. There is a known case when the conversation between the lawyer and the client was overheard, the case reached the Court of the European Union, and the state was forced to pay compensation.
2023-09-02 12:59:00
#Alvis #Hermanis #phone #tapped
