Former Latvian President Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga has been named one of three spring 2008 visiting fellows by Harvard University’s Institute of Politics.

The two-term president, who spent much of her adult life as an exile and professor in Canada, will spend April 14 through the end of May meeting with students, leading discussions on topical issues and interacting with faculty, the institute announced in an April 2 press release.

Vīķe-Freiberga was president of Latvia from 1999-2007 and was the first woman to hold the position. Jim Leach, director of the Institute of Politics, described Vīķe-Freiberga as “one of ‘new’ Europe’s most distinguished former heads of state.”

The institute is part of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at the Cambridge, Mass.-based university.

The other two visiting fellows are author and political advocate Elizabeth Edwards and religious leader Andrew White. Edwards is the wife of former presidential candidate and former U.S. Sen. John Edwards. White is president and CEO of the Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East, vicar of St. Georges Church Baghdad, and Anglican and Episcopal chaplain of the International Zone Baghdad.

A 38-year-old Latvian immigrant charged with sex trafficking and inciting prostitution appeared in a British court April 1, local media and the BBC reported.

Pēteris Kalva is accused of importing a 26-year-old woman from Latvia and selling her sexual services in July and August 2007 around the town of Wisbech in the county of Cambridgeshire, which is in east central England.

Kalva denies the charges, the Peterborough Evening Telegraph reported. Kalva appeared in Cambridge Crown Court.

Kalva is alleged to have arranged for the woman’s travel from Latvia to Great Britain, where she was to work in a food factory. Instead, prosecutor Angela Rafferty told the court, Kalva took her passport and wages, and forced her into prostitution.

The prosecution alleges Kalva sold the woman’s sexual services for GBP 50 per encounter, allowing her to keep GBP 20.

The woman apparently had been sold for sex in Latvia, too, the prosecutor said, according to media reports.

If convicted, Kalva could face up to 14 years in jail. His trial was scheduled to continue April 2.