Lawyer Demands Money for Being Detained Without Grounds — Court Unsure Whether to Pay for the Right to Be Innocent

What happens when a lawyer ends up behind bars? Turns out — such a circus of legal complaints begins that even the wind stops to watch.

One sworn attorney had the misfortune of being detained and interrogated in a criminal case that later turned out to be as pointless as trying to find a quiet day in Liepāja. When the case was dropped, the lawyer decided she deserved compensation for this adventure.

"I think she wants money for experiencing the same thing every other suspect experiences," comments local lawyer Jānis. "But she's a lawyer, so her dignity costs more."

The Administrative Court initially awarded part of what was requested, but then such a carousel of appeals began that even Riga judges realized — something's not right. The Supreme Court discovered that the lower court hadn't determined whether the attorney actually had bills for legal assistance. It's like demanding compensation for food at a restaurant without saying what you ate.

Now the whole case is going back to square one, because it turns out the court forgot to determine whether the lawyer's detention was especially painful because she was a lawyer, or just painful like for anyone else. As the Supreme Court said: "Attorney status does not make detention an automatically serious violation." In other words — even lawyers don't have special privileges to bigger compensation for the law working as intended.

In Liepāja there wouldn't be such problems — the wind would have blown away all the unnecessary appeals long ago.