RIGA (LATVIA)
Latvian Public Media [Riga, Latvia]
April 22, 2026
By Zanda Ozola-Balode (Latvian Television), LSM English (Latvian Public Media)
After more than nine months of waiting, a family has received the full first-instance verdict in a case involving sexual abuse of a child allegedly carried out by a priest in a church.
The first instance court has found Catholic clergyman Krišjānis Dambergs guilty of a sexual crime against a minor, sentencing him to eight years in prison and two years of probation. The verdict will be appealed by both parties – the victims and the accused.
Riga City Court Judge Edīte Turkopule, who made this decision, indicated that the defendant’s guilt has been proven in the court’s opinion. The case was heard in a closed session, so the judge emphasized that she was not allowed to comment on anything that happened during the hearing.
Both parties plan to appeal the Riga City Court’s decision – the accused because he maintains he is innocent and the victim’s family because they feel the sentence is too light given the gravity of the crime.
Catholic priest Rihards Rasnacis commented: “We really want to know the truth. We feel sorry for the victim’s family, for the victim himself, and for him to be able to understand what happened, because we want to be very careful not to convict someone who is not guilty.”
This was also the defence’s position in court, namely that the child was indeed the victim of a sexual crime, but in their opinion, someone else was to blame because Dambergs’ reputation was good among his congregation.
However, the court heard testimony from a woman who had an unpleasant encounter with priest Dambergs approximately 20 years ago.
“I was hanging the curtains, he came in. He immediately grabbed my ass – it was unpleasant, and I wasn’t prepared for something like that. I just remember. I was on the ground very quickly and then I pushed him off. He hit the wall, and then he started laughing there,” the woman said.
The Catholic Church also questions what this woman said in court. The defendant Krišjānis Dambergs also rejected her testimony, his lawyer confirmed. The woman, meanwhile, pointed out that she had already told others about what had happened at the time.
The case has been running a long time and illustrates the frequently painfully slow speed of legal process in Latvia. The victim was just seven years old at the time of the offence and is now an adult.
The trial itself began in September 2023. The summary judgment of the first instance court described how in the summer of 2014, Dambergs took the seven-year-old child into a room at the church and performed “sexual acts on the child, satisfying his sexual desire.”
It was eight years before the victim talked about his experience, during which time his family noted a marked change in his personality and became alarmed that he might take his own life. What had happened in the church came to light during psychotherapy. An investigation followed. When asked why he didn’t tell his parents about what had happened earlier, the boy admitted that he was ashamed.
Now, twelve years later, even when the process appears to be approaching its final stages, pauses and delays are the norm. The first instance court found the priest guilty nine months ago, but the victim’s family is unable to turn over a new page in their lives, because the full court verdict has not been received until now – and now the appeals process is likely to be launched.
Archbishop of Riga of the Roman Catholic Church, Metropolitan Zbigniew Stankevičs, is on the record saying that the information available to the church, its evaluation of the priest’s actions and personality, as well as a survey of those involved in the ministry, do not provide grounds to consider the priest guilty of any criminal acts.