Supreme Court upholds prison terms in fatal home birth case

Latvia’s Supreme Court has refused to hear appeals by three people convicted in a case involving the deaths of a mother and her baby during a home birth, leaving their prison sentences in force, LSM reported.

The Zemgale Regional Court’s ruling stands after the Supreme Court’s Criminal Department found that the defence appeals repeated arguments already considered and rejected by the appeals court. One person was sentenced to two years and 10 months in prison, while the other two received two years and seven months each.

The three members of the First Evangelical Church of Jesus were convicted of providing unauthorised medical assistance during the birth without involving medical staff. The group included the woman’s husband and father, and the wife of the church’s spiritual leader.

The woman, who was 21, went into labour on May 14, 2019. The baby was stillborn, and the mother died the following day from complications during childbirth. The case is closed.