Four defendants deny charges in Bauska dog shooting case

LSM reports that the Zemgale District Court in Tukums on Thursday began hearing a criminal case over the shooting of three dogs in Brunava Parish, Bauska Municipality. None of the four defendants admits guilt.

Prosecutors allege that Egils Gailis, who was head of the Bauska Municipal Police at the time, made the decision to shoot the dogs. He is charged with deliberate actions by a state official that clearly exceeded his powers and caused substantial harm.

Municipal police officers Kristine Leitere Ozolina and Andris Millers, who were at the property where the dogs were shot, are accused of failing to perform their duties as state officials, also causing substantial harm.

Hunter Gatis Minkevičs is charged with cruel treatment of animals resulting in their deaths.

The dogs, which belonged to Modris Konovalovs, were four years, nine months and four months old. Konovalovs continues to be affected by what happened.

“It is very difficult to work professionally with him because this event cannot be erased from his memory or from his daily experiences,” Konovalovs’ lawyer Aldis Alliks said. He described the truth about what happened as “very brutal, very simple and unpleasant on a human level.”