The Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs expresses its lack of comprehension over the ruling of the Eastern High Court (Østre Landsret) by which Kristīne Misāne is retained in custody contrary to a court decision in a previous hearing that she be released.
The EU citizen has been in custody in Denmark since 9 December 2018, while Danish law stipulates that a person must be released where extradition has not taken place within 30 days. Such a situation is repeating itself the second time.
In view of the current diplomatic and political efforts of Latvia to convince Denmark not to extradite an EU citizen to the Republic of South Africa, the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is considering all possible mechanisms of cooperation and conflict resolution between the countries to achieve non-extradition of our citizen and prevent the occurrence of such situations in the future.
In a worst case scenario, if Kristīne Misāne is extradited to the Republic of South Africa, Latvia will also ensure consular assistance with the help from a mission of another EU Member State in South Africa.
In addition, a visit by Foreign Ministry officials is being prepared to the Republic of South Africa at the earliest possible date.