Supreme Court of the Republic of Latvia
24 November 2010
Facts
A judge of the Administrative court refused to provide a translation of a judgment in Russian for the applicant, Mr K.
Complaint
The applicant claimed moral compensation in the amount of 5000 LVL and material damages in the amount of 100 LVL because the judge of the Administrative court had limited his rights to submit an appeal on the points of law of the particular judgment.
Court's ruling
The Court pointed out that the lack of a specific law regarding compensation for wrongful activities of the national courts does not affect the right of individuals to receive compensation for the violations of their rights. It emphasized that Article 92 of the Constitution of the Republic of Latvia (Satversme) guarantees that individual whose fundamental rights have been violated can claim compensation directly from the State.
The Court however stated that before the compensation claim can be examined it must be established whether there has indeed been a violation of the rights. In the present case the Court noted that the court of first instance had not examined whether the rights of the applicant have been violated. The judgment was therefore quashed and the case was sent back to the court of lower instance for a re-examination.