RUSSIA-ESTONIA/VERDICT Estonian officer allegedly abducted by Russia sentenced to 15 years' hard labour

Record ID: 142831

  • Title: RUSSIA-ESTONIA/VERDICT Estonian officer allegedly abducted by Russia sentenced to 15 years' hard labour
  • Date: 19th August 2015
  • Summary: PSKOV, RUSSIA (FILE - JUNE 2, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF ESTONIAN POLICE OFFICER, ESTON KOHVER, IN COURTROOM TALKING TO HIS LAWYER, YEVGENY AKSENOV
  • Embargoed: 3rd September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Belgium
  • Country: Belgium
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAAA8N3JEW98S9H0GLZADDBHNNI
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: An Estonian police officer, allegedly abducted by Russia in a cross-border raid, was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Wednesday (August 19), further stoking tensions between Moscow and the former Soviet republic.
    Russia arrested Eston Kohver on espionage charges in September last year, saying the Estonian was caught on Russian territory, but Tallin maintains he was taken at gunpoint at a border crossing.
    The sentence will put further strain on already frayed relations between the two countries, which have deteriorated since Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine last year.
    The European Union said Kohver's detention in Russia was illegal and called for his immediate release.
    "Mr. Kohver's abduction and subsequent illegal detention in Russia constitute a clear violation of international law. Moreover from the very beginning, Mr. Kohver has been deprived of the right to a fair trial: there was no public hearing of the case, the Estonian consul was not allowed to be present at the hearings and Mr. Kohver was deprived of adequate legal aid. So despite repeated requests and contacts have been hold at different levels with Russian authorities and Estonian authorities, the Russian authorities have failed to resolve the issue, so the EU continues to call on the Russian Federation to act according to its international obligations, release Mr. Kohver immediately and guarantee his safe return to Estonia," spokesperson for EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini, Catherine Ray, said at a briefing in Brussels.
    Kohver will serve his sentence in a Russian hard labour camp and be fined 100,000 roubles ($1,525), Interfax news agency quoted his lawyer as saying outside the Pskov regional court, where Estonian and European Union diplomats gathered to protest the conviction.
    Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), successor to the Soviet KGB, said Kohver was detained carrying a Taurus handgun with ammunition, 5,000 euros ($5,500) in cash, special equipment for concealed audio recording and documents that "bear evidence of an intelligence mission".
    Tallinn said he was taken trying to stop illegal activity on the border when unidentified abductors jammed radio communications and used smoke grenades.
    In recent years, the border has seen a number of incidents involving the smuggling of goods, weapons and migrants.
    Estonia and other former Soviet republics in the Baltics, which now belong to both the EU and NATO, have urged both organisations to take a tough stance towards Russia over its actions in Ukraine, where the West says Moscow is sending troops across the border to support separatist rebels.
    Moscow has repeatedly denied these accusations.
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