Latvian Whistleblower pledges to fight conviction

An appeals court here on Monday sentenced Ivars Poikans, an IT professional and researcher at the University of Latvia, to 100 hours of community service for hacking into the Latvian tax authority's computers and stealing classified data, local media reported.

The case dates back to 2010 when Poikans, under the nickname Neo, used a security hole in the Latvian State Revenue Service's electronic declaration system (EDS) to gain access to its files and leaked classified data, notably tax records of various civil servants and state officials, to the media.

Poikans' activities triggered public controversy, with some regarding him as a brave and selfless whistleblower revealing the truth about the generous salaries paid to high-ranked officials in Latvia's public sector during the economic crisis, and others decrying Poikans' activities as gross violations of law.

A court of first instance acquitted Poikans in 2014, but the prosecutor and Latvia's ABLV Bank, which claimed that some of its data had also been stolen, appealed that ruling.

Riga Regional Court, which heard the appeal, found Poikans guilty of illegally accessing economic data and other commercial secrets but cleared him of illegal use of personal data.

Speaking at Monday's court hearing, Poikans said he was determined not to give up on his cause, which he described as a matter of principle, and pledged to fight his conviction. "This is why even an hour of community service would be too much," he said. Endit