Man who fled Estonian courthouse caught at German border
A man who escaped from Tartu Courthouse in May was caught by German border officials while attempting to cross the Poland–Germany border. Estonia's Police and Border Guard Board (PPA) has returned him to Estonia to continue serving out his sentence for a previous offense at Tartu Prison.
According to Tartu Police Department patrol chief Argo Arukase, police immediately began searching for the suspect after he fled from the Central Tartu courthouse.
"Right after he went missing, police patrols searched for him across Estonia, but were unable to locate him," he said. "Based on the information we gathered, we determined that the suspect who had escaped from the courthouse might be abroad."
The suspect, a 30-year-old male, is suspected of repeated drunk driving, and this May, the Prosecutor's Office petitioned the court to have him taken into custody.
"According to the charges, on May 29, he drove a vehicle in Tartu while under the influence of alcohol," said Rebecca Marie Post, a prosecutor at the Southern District Prosecutor's Office. "The offense occurred while he was on probation, as the court had already sentenced him in 2023 for the same crime."
She noted that at the end of April, Tartu District Court had issued an order finding that the man had violated the terms of his probation and must serve his sentence in prison.
"His escape from the courthouse clearly indicated that he would likely try to evade criminal proceedings in the future," Post added. "For this reason, the Prosecutor's Office considered taking him into custody absolutely necessary."
In June, Tartu District Court placed the escaped man in custody in absentia at the prosecution's request, after which the Prosecutor's Office issued a European arrest warrant.
"Such a warrant allows EU countries to detain a suspect and extradite them quickly through a simplified procedure," the prosecutor explained, adding that German law enforcement authorities had also received the warrant.
"That month, German border officials detained the man as he attempted to enter Germany at the Poland–Germany border, and the PPA returned him to Estonia at the end of July," Arukase said.
The man is currently serving his 2023 sentence, enforced earlier this year, at Tartu Prison. An investigation into the incident in May is ongoing.
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Editor: Aili Vahtla
