Three men receive lengthy sentences in entrepreneur killings case

Three men have received prison sentences of 16 and 18 years for contract killings of entrepreneurs and an attempted murder of former State Revenue Service official Vladimir Vaškevičs, LSM reported. The Riga Regional Court’s 2024 verdict became final last year, according to the LETA news agency.

Mārtiņš Putniņš was sentenced to 16 years in prison and 18 months of probation supervision. Sergejs Markevičs and Edgars Krogerts each received 18 years in prison and 18 months of probation supervision. They were also ordered to leave the country and barred from re-entering for 10 years.

The court reviewed charges against two of the men over a murder in February 2007 near a home on Slokas Street in Riga, and against all three over an attempted murder in May 2007 near a home on Eksporta Street in Riga.

The case has undergone several rounds of review. In 2014, the Supreme Court overturned an appeal court ruling that had sentenced all three men to life imprisonment, saying the evidence had not been properly examined and inadmissible evidence had been used. The court also found that the defendants’ rights to a fair and impartial trial had been violated.

A 2022 regional court ruling imposed the same prison terms as the 2024 judgment, but set probation supervision at three years. In 2023, the Supreme Court reduced the supervision period to 18 months and sent that part of the case back for a new review.

The case also concerned the September 2007 shooting of entrepreneur Gatis Aišpurs in Jēkabpils. The article additionally refers to another shooting in January 2008 but its account of that incident is incomplete.