Nine people are on trial at Latvia’s Economic Affairs Court, including Jurijs Spiridonovs, one of the country’s best-known organised-crime figures.[1][2] The court will sit again on 4 December at 14:00 to continue hearing witnesses, the agency LETA learned at the court.[1][2] Four of the nine defendants are held in custody as a preventive measure.[1] Three defendants were arrested in Spain and extradited to Latvia after cooperation between the two countries.[1]
A prosecutor of the Riga court district prosecutor’s office sent the case to court, accusing a Latvian citizen of directing from Spain an international organised group that grew drug-containing plants illegally over large areas and distributed the drugs in the Baltic states and Scandinavia.[3] The group, formed by four people, produced marijuana in indoor plantations in Spain from at least the start of 2020 until autumn 2024 and then organised its transport to Latvia and Norway for sale.[1][2] The group also included Russian and Moldovan citizens prosecuted in other countries.[1] Prosecutors say the group’s leader, using family members, tried to launder at least 70,000 euros.[1] Another member of the group paid at least 19,695 euros of criminally obtained money into her own accounts, and a person close to her at least 10,050 euros.[1] The two of them together tried to launder at least 31,788 euros by buying property in Riga and making regular loan payments on it.[1] Cash, property and other assets belonging to the people involved have been frozen.[1] The group leader is additionally accused of buying and keeping a firearm and ammunition at his home in Latvia without a permit.[1]
Police arrested Spiridonovs and several members of his group on 10 September 2024 in an operation backed by Europol and Eurojust.[1] Police also searched Lloret de Mar and Valencia in Spain with the support of Spain’s National Police.[1] The searches confiscated more than 110,000 euros in cash, two firearms, 95 rounds of ammunition, four airsoft hand grenades, two bullet-proof vests, 13 kilograms of marijuana, forged identity documents, four vehicles, cryptocurrency wallets and luxury watches.[1] Assets were frozen in the case: ten properties worth about 500,000 euros, movable property worth 33,000 euros and about 100,000 euros in cash.[1]
The four detained defendants took part in the hearing by video link from prison.[4] The prosecutor, Aivars Bergmanis, said the trial could last for years because there are nine defendants, four of them in custody, and seven defence lawyers in the case.[4] The judge allowed the sitting to be filmed despite the defendants’ objections, citing the public interest.[4] In early September 2026 the court changed the preventive measures applied to Spiridonovs and other defendants in the case.[5] The court received the case on 18 June 2025 and held the first hearing on 10 July.[5] By 12 September 2026 the court had held ten hearings in the case and cancelled four.[5] One set of charges concerns money laundering.[5] Another charge concerns sowing or growing drug-containing plants illegally on a large scale or in an organised group.[5] The prosecution has also described the mechanism as marijuana grown in Spain, sold in the Baltics and Scandinavia, with the profit laundered in Latvia.[6]
