MINELRES: Estonian Court rejects politically-based accusations

[MINELRES moderator]

Original sender: Julija Kovalenko <julia@lichr.ee> 


The Estonian Court rejected Politically-Based Accusations


After the Tallinn Office of Public Prosecutor revoked its protest from
the Court of Appeal the decision of "not guilty" carried out by the City
Court of the Estonian capital Tallinn came into force in relation to the
former vice-mayor of Tallinn Mr. Leivi Sher and former Head of the
Tallinn Department for the Social Security and Integration Ms. Galina
Panchenko.

The criminal case against them was started in 2001 and based on the
publications in the local Media which accused them of corruption and
pumping over money from the city budget to the accounts of their
political party, friends and relatives. Although during the preliminary
investigation carried out by the political police of Estonia
(Kaitsepolitsei) neither the fact of unlawful use of the money belonging
to the city, nor facts of corruption and personal greed were discovered
they were accused of "creation of a threat to the safety of the money
belonging to the city" and "blackening by their activities the authority
of the city government and city servants". The Tallinn Office of the
Public Prosecutor confirmed this accusation. In order to confirm its
point of view the Prosecutor was referring to the publications in
several newspapers and the Statement of the inner control-body of the
City Government and Inspection Committee from the City Council whose
objectivity was taken a priori.

The Court found that those two documents, supposedly proving
unreasonableness of the city budget peculation, were "made by laymen in
those spheres which were under the jurisdiction of the Department of
Social Security and Integration". Apart from this clear hidden political
motive of the case was highlighted in the decision of the court. As such
the document produced by the Inspection Commission violating art 57 of
the Estonian Constitution has an attachment containing the list of
projects financed by the Department in which the members of United
People's Party of Estonia (UPPE - predominantly Russian-speaking) were
involved and even "the list of persons suspected in relations with the
UPPE". Also one of the authors of this Document the former Minister for
Interior Mr. Ain Seppik clearly stated at one of the sittings of the
court that the main idea behind this Document was to liquidate/abolish
the Department of the Social Security and Integration which was created
under the initiative of the UPPE faction in the City Council.

The Tallinn Department of Social Security and Integration was the first
in Estonia municipal institution that started to deal with the problem
of integration of non-Estonian population that composes around 50% of
the total population of the capital,  into the social life.
Marginalization of this particular group of the society that happened
due to the ethnic and linguistic policy of the State resulted in the
fact that in the year 2001 more than half of the crimes were committed
by the Russian-speakers as well as that 84% of the total amount of drug
addicts in the capital belong to the non-Estonian minority group. The
results of the sociological researches carried out on the initiative of
the Department revealed existence in Estonia of the discrimination on
the basis of ethnicity at the labor market, proved ineffectiveness of
the police reform carried out in the recent years, undue and ineffective
expenditure of the financial means allocated by the donor-states for
stirring up the process of integration in Estonia. This kind of results
could not satisfy and comply with the political forces at power.
Therefore discrediting of the Department as well as vice-mayor of the
city who was current for this institution would as well bring discredit
of these research results. Furthermore the draft Integration Programme
of Tallinn was not approved. The whole scandal around the Department
gave a starting point for changing the political forces being at the top
in Tallinn and at the national level.

The Court decided that damage to the interests of the city and authority
of the city power was caused not by the accused but by irresponsible
journalists and incompetent controlling servants and politicians.



Julia Kovalenko
Legal Information Centre for Human Rights