cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/43814573
One of the leaders of the pro-Russian Koos party and Estonian citizen Aivo Peterson was sentenced to 14 years in prison for treason by Harju District Court on Thursday.
The trial, which began in November 2023, dealt with allegations of treason against Estonian citizens Peterson and Dmitri Rootsi, as well as claims that Peterson and Russian citizen Andrei Andronov acted to undermine Estonia’s independence.
The charges were connected to meetings with Russian politicians, aligning policy positions, the organization of an independent civil defense organization, and a Russian-funded press trip to occupied Ukraine.
According to the indictment, Peterson and Rootsi, based on instructions received from Russia, knowingly and in an organized manner assisted Russia and people acting on behalf of Russian authorities in non-violent activities directed against the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Estonia from October 2022 to March 10, 2023.
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Apparently yoy can make a political leaning illegal, your country is putting in jail politicians for being pro-Russian. The article on the post claims they accepted a Russia-paid trip to occupied areas of Ukraine. To your government, that is treason. To your government, being overtly xenophobic and running a party with your entire ideology being the hatred of ethnical minorities, LGBTQ and women’s rights, isn’t punishable by law. Hate speech laws do exist in place in Estonia that could be used to crack down on these people, it just so happens that the government doesn’t care about Nazis as much as it cares about a minor pro-Russian party. I’m saying that this is wrong: you can’t tolerate the intolerance. Nazis should very much be politically repressed and not allowed to run on elections, their views shouldn’t be aired on media, and vocal ones should be prosecuted for hate speech.