General Part

Chapter IV
Punishment

Section 41. Fines

(1) A fine is a monetary amount, which a court or a public prosecutor, shall impose to be paid in favour of the State within 30 days in the amount set out in this Section as a basic punishment, but the court also as an additional punishment.

(2) A fine as a basic punishment proportionate to the harmfulness of the criminal offence and the financial status of the offender shall be determined :

1) for a criminal violation – for an amount of three and not exceeding one hundred times the minimum monthly wage prescribed in the Republic of Latvia ;
2) for a less serious crime – for an amount of five and not exceeding one hundred and fifty times the minimum monthly wage prescribed in the Republic of Latvia ;
3) for a serious crime for which deprivation of liberty for a term not exceeding five years is provided for in this Law – for an amount of ten and not exceeding two hundred times the minimum monthly wage prescribed in the Republic of Latvia.

(2 1) A fine shall be determined for an amount of the minimum monthly wage prescribed in the Republic of Latvia at the time of preparation of the judgment, indicating the amount of the fine in the monetary units of the Republic of Latvia in the judgement. A public prosecutor may impose a fine in the amount of not more than a half of the amount of the maximum fine provided for in Paragraph two of this Section, taking into account the minimum monthly wage prescribed in the Republic of Latvia at the time, when the injunction regarding punishment is drawn up, and indicating the amount of this fine in the monetary units of the Republic of Latvia in the injunction regarding punishment.

(2 2) According to the harmfulness of the criminal offence and the financial status of the offender a court may determine a fine as a basic punishment also for the commission of such serious crime, for which deprivation of liberty for a term not exceeding five years is provided for in this Law, and the commission of an especially serious crime, if the crime has not resulted in death of a human being, has not caused serious bodily injuries or disorders of psychical nature to at least one person or less serious bodily injuries or disorders of psychical nature to several persons, is not related to violence or threat of violence, is not related to illegal handling of narcotic and psychotropic substances and has not been committed in an organised group, for an amount of two hundred and one and not exceeding four hundred times the minimum monthly wage prescribed in the Republic of Latvia.

(3) A fine as an additional punishment proportionate to the harmfulness of the criminal offence and the financial status of the offender shall be determined for an amount of not less than three, and not exceeding one hundred times of the minimum monthly wage prescribed in the Republic of Latvia at the time of preparation of the judgement, indicating the amount of the fine in the monetary units of the Republic of Latvia in the judgment.

(4) The financial status of the offender shall be determined evaluating not only his or her possibilities to pay the fine immediately, but also the possibilities to acquire foreseeable income which could provide the possibility for him or her to pay the fine imposed within the time period prescribed by the Law.

(5) A court or public prosecutor as appropriate may divide the payment of the fine into terms or suspend the payment for a time period which is not longer than a year from a day when a judgement or the injunction regarding punishment has come into legal force.

(6) If a fine is not paid, then, in the cases where the amount specified does not exceed thirty times the minimum monthly wage, temporary deprivation of liberty shall be substituted for it, calculating one minimum monthly wage as four days of temporary deprivation of liberty, however, not exceeding three months of temporary deprivation of liberty ; if the fine has been set for an amount of thirty one and not exceeding two hundred times the minimum monthly wage, deprivation of liberty shall be substituted for it, calculating one minimum monthly wage as four days of deprivation of liberty, however, not exceeding one year of deprivation of liberty ; if the fine has been set for an amount exceeding two hundred times the minimum monthly wage, deprivation of liberty shall be substituted for it, calculating one minimum monthly wage as five days of deprivation of liberty, however, not exceeding five years of deprivation of liberty.

(7) If a fine or a part thereof is paid during the time a convicted person is serving a punishment of deprivation of liberty instead of a fine, the convicted person shall be released, or the term of deprivation of liberty shall be reduced, according to the portion of the fine paid. In reducing the term of the punishment as indicated, the time of deprivation of liberty shall be included in accordance with the proportions determined by a court.