The Riga City Court today terminated the civil case as Latvian citizen billionaire Peter Aven withdrew his lawsuit for the protection of honor and dignity against Latvia's Foreign Minister Baiba Braže (New Unity party) regarding her statements to the newspaper Diena. This was reported to the LETA agency by the court.
The decision has not yet come into legal force and can be appealed in the Riga District Court within ten days.
It has already been reported that the State Police of Latvia refused to initiate a criminal case based on the statement of billionaire Aven, who holds citizenship in Latvia and Russia, in which he accused the minister of defamation regarding her comments in the press.
Earlier, Aven issued a press release criticizing Braže's statements to the newspaper Diena. In his opinion, the politician unjustly accused him of corrupt ties with the highest political leadership of Russia and money laundering.
In particular, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, responding to a question about how dangerous it would be to exclude Aven from the sanctions list, stated: "He is Putin's personal banker. This is Putin's money that they are laundering."
The billionaire believed that such statements damage his reputation. In his statement, he claimed that he has never engaged in the legalization of criminal proceeds or any other illegal activities, including on behalf of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Aven requested the police to initiate a criminal case under the Criminal Code article on defamation regarding the claims that he is "Putin's personal banker" and is involved in laundering his funds.
