The Harju district court remanded three men suspected of creating links against Estonia into custody for two months. They were convicted under Article 235 of the Penitentiary Code (establishing or maintaining relations with a foreign state for the purpose of committing a crime), reports ERR.
The court granted the request of the state prosecutorʼs office. According to the court, the men can evade criminal proceedings while they are at large. There is also a risk that they may continue to commit crimes.
The decision can still be challenged in the Tallinn District Court.
On the night of March 10, the Security Police (KaPo) detained three men on suspicion of creating a connection against the Republic of Estonia. Among those detained was the leader of the Koos movement, Ivo Peterson. Later it turned out that Dmitry Rootsi and Andrii Andronov were also detained.
Peterson and Rootsi are Estonian citizens, Andronov is a Russian citizen with a permanent residence permit in Estonia.
Ivo Peterson, leader of the Koos/Together movement, ran in the Riigikogu elections on the list of the United Left Party of Estonia in Ida-Virumaa and received 3,969 votes there. This was not enough to get into the parliament.
In his statements, Peterson repeatedly supported the actions of the Russian Federation, and recently visited the occupied territories of Ukraine, in particular Donetsk and Mariupol, in his words — with the assistance of a "charity organization" from Russia. There, Peterson recorded several videos in which he hinted that Russia "should not be contacted."
The public broadcaster then interviewed him, where the politician was asked many questions about the trip. Peterson said that the occupied territories "are occupied from our point of view and, obviously, from the point of view of Ukraine, and Russia itself believes that it has a ʼcertain advantageʼ in this region."