The planned law change put forward by Minister of the Interior Igor Taro (Eesti 200) would make the "acquisition and continuous monitoring" of terrorist propaganda punishable.

While Islamic extremism was viewed as the greatest threat, right-wing extremist radicalization was also flagged as a problem in Estonia which the law would address.

"Under rule of law it is certainly the case that one can only be punished for things that are substantively reproachable. If you have, for example, a video on your phone of terrorists beheading someone, but you yourself would do nothing of the sort that would bring harm to other people around you, then you should not be punished for that. Furthermore, the concept of terrorism under the Penal Code is still very broad, and on this basis criminal offenses could arise that easily expand beyond violent Islamic fanatics carrying automatic weapons, who are perhaps the first to come to mind for the ordinary person when speaking about terrorism," Pakosta said of her partymate's plan:

The law change could create confusion for people as to what materials would exactly be prohibited, she went on.

"For example, an act fitting the definition might be if some man from the village speaks too passionately about Russia's current regime (which the Riigikogu declared quite unanimously as terrorist, and which indeed is terrorist). Also, a criminal offense would too easily emerge – for example, a person downloads one article containing 'terrorist propaganda' onto their computer and does not immediately delete it, then 'continuous keeping' would already be met," she went on.

"In my view, this does not fit in a free Estonia at all, where we insert into the Penal Code something so vague but at the same time connected to opinion, as one person's terrorist is another person's freedom fighter. In addition, many documentary programs, action movies, computer games or books of questionable value would also fall into that net. Just for comparison, we have not banned one cause of everyday crime – a bottle of alcohol. Preparing for terrorist crimes is already prohibited and punishable, meaning there is reason to think with each other what we as a society would need to do so that also the police's concerns in protecting people would find a solution in accordance with the rule of law," Pakosta concluded.

At present, the Penal Code lists committing, financing, preparing for, or inciting a terrorist act as a punishable crime.

In its draft bill, the interior ministry defines terrorist propaganda as any kind of propaganda from outside Estonia and which is not disseminated by sovereign states, such as Russia.

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