Best-Selling Latvian Author/Attorney & Anti-Semite Found Dead

[Idaho Kid]

 One of Latvia's most famous attorneys and best selling authors Andris Grutups has been found dead in his home.
http://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/34963/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheBalticTimes+(News+from+Estonia%2C+Latvia+and+Lithuania.+The+Baltic+Times.)/#.U58n8t00xZM

Latvian police were called to the lawyers home on June 15 after receiving a call of a shooting. It's believed the lawyer may have committed suicide, police say.

US ambassador's secret warnings on his book: "The Jewish community, political parties with strong Jewish support and the Israeli Embassy here all are stumped by how best to discredit the book without actually increasing its prominence."



The death of Andris Grutups' will be fully investigated, Criminal Police Office Chief Girts Mundurs told the LETA news agency.

Early signs indicate that  Grutups was alone in his apartment whilst the gun found at the scene belonged to Grutups.  Mundurs refused to reveal the contents of the suicide note found near the body.

The well-know attorney was an important and unique personality in Latvia's judicial system, said deputy-chair of the Latvian Council of Lawyers Guna Kaminska said.

Kaminska said that Grutups was a successful individual in his professional career and his social activity during the days of the Popular Front of Latvia movement, as well as in regard to his tenure as a Supreme Council [pre-Saeima] deputy and membership on the Committee of Brethren Cemetery.

She added that Grutups was the co-author of many laws and regulations that allowed those people, whose property was denationalized, to see justice. Kaminska also said that Grutups had contributed textbooks about regulations of civil liability, and much more pertaining to his profession.

From Wikileaks:
B. 06 RIGA 921 C. 06 RIGA 959 D. 07 RIGA 507 Classified By: Classified by Ambassador Charles W. Larson for Reason 1. 4(d). 1. (C) Summary. Andris Grutups is a prominent lawyer and closely connected to one of Latvia's most influential people - former PM Andris Skele. He is also often not far from the scene when charges of anti-Semitism are raised in Latvia. For example, in a late November 2007 interview with local press, Grutups accused then-Ambassador Bailey and former Latvian President Vike-Freiberga of threatening the job of then-Prime Minister Kalvitis if he did not pass Jewish property restitution legislation at the end of 2006. Furthermore, Grutups has made several dubious claims about "the Jews" in Latvia, and his publications have been condemned as anti-Semitic. He also sponsored a private showing of a play viewed as anti-Semitic for its seeming support for the blood libel charge. Grutups' behavior is more noteworthy due to his close relationship to oligarch Skele. We don't want to overstate the case, but the fact that someone as influential as Grutups can produce such bile with little or no public reaction is an indication that at least some amount of anti-Semitism is rather wide-spread in Latvia. End Summary 2 (U) On November 29, 2007, in an article published in the Latvian daily Neatkariga Rita Avize, prominent Latvian Lawyer Andris Grutups claimed that then-Ambassador Bailey and former Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga made passage of Jewish property restitution legislation (reftels) in late 2006 a "condition" for Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis to continue in his position as PM after the October elections in 2007. Neatkariga Rita Avize is controlled by Latvian oligarch, Aivars Lembergs, who is under house arrest for a number of corruption charges. The paper has a history of criticism of the U.S. embassy in Latvia and of Ambassador Bailey in particular. A Busy Year of Anti-Semitism ---------------------------- 3. (SBU) Grutups is known for his weakly hidden anti-Semitic views. During the past year and a half, he has focused considerable energy on Jewish matters--showing a disturbing trend of criticizing "the Jews." He published articles in late 2006 attacking the proposed Jewish property restitution legislation, providing much of the intellectual cover for the legislation's eventual defeat. In early 2007, he staged a private showing of a play based on a book he wrote called "Belisade: on the court case of a boy murder believed to be committed by Jews in the beginning of the 20th century in Russia." The book and play discuss the Beilis Trial that took place in early 20th century Russia and involved the "blood libel" accusation against Jews. The play was condemned by the head of the local Jewish community in Latvia, Arkady Suharenko, as clearly anti-Semitic.
http://www.wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/08RIGA87_a.html

[yankeedoodle]

Somewhere somebody should be developing a "Wall"...you know, like the Vietnam Wall, which simply lists the names of the dead.

Too big a task, perhaps.