Applying Section 140 Paragraph 71 of the Criminal Procedure Law of the Republic of Latvia During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The goal of the legislator, by supplementing Article 140 of the Criminal Procedure Law of the Republic of Latvia with Part 7.1, was to make the regulation of criminal proceedings more efficient, to speed up the execution of investigative activities, as well as to facilitate the organisation of court work in connection with the planning of court sessions and the conduct of trials. During the spread of the COVID-19 infection, the mentioned article provided an opportunity for the achievement of epidemiological safety goals to conduct criminal procedural activities using a video conference. The article “Application of the procedure set out in Article 140, Part 7.1 of the Criminal Procedure Law during the COVID-19 pandemic” provides an insight into how the regulation of the criminal procedure, which has been streamlined in theory, is not used in practice, and during the spread of the COVID -19 infection, its use was not effective enough. According to the Author, the problem that has arisen in practice — insufficient use of the legal norm — is related to the insufficient knowledge of industry specialists, including the inability to apply a uniform interpretation of the legal norm.