Remaining members of MTÜ Slava Ukraini are also via the suit seeking compensation for the damages caused.

Lehtme is a former Eesti 200 MP. The NGO had said in October it would not be pursuing a lawsuit, and instead would be filing for liquidation.

"The remaining members are the same people who in February 2023 initiated the process that resulted in the suspension of the then chair of the management board Johanna-Maria Lehtme and the launch of a special audit. These same remaining NGO members agree that we will file a civil lawsuit against Johanna-Maria Lehtme and demand compensation for the damage caused," the NGO's liquidator Ilmar Raag wrote.

"This has primarily precedent-setting value, because as long as there is an assessment in the air that donors' money has been used incorrectly, one must fight for the proper use of donors' money. The final assessment will of course be given by the court," Raag went on.

Raag, a filmmaker and politician with the Parempoolsed party, announced Tuesday the Tartu County Court had published a ruling appointing him as the NGO's liquidator.

This development was preceded by the departure of the majority of Slava Ukraini members from the NGO, Raag, a supervisory board member, added.

Raag noted that he wants to carry out a substantive analysis of what happened in cooperation with civil society organizations.

"In the entire Slava Ukraini scandal there are criminal episodes according to the prosecutor's charges, but management errors also deserve analysis," Raag wrote, adding that this could offer lessons for other NGOs.

He also cautioned that quick results should not be expected, noting that in the case of the largest sums, the money was recorded as profit for Ukrainian company IC Construction and may be argued to be "legal."

In August this year, the State Prosecutor's Office charged Lehtme, a co-founder and board member of Slava Ukraini, with abuse of trust and embezzlement, while in October it emerged that former members of the NGO had initially decided not to file a lawsuit against Lehtme to recover donated funds, and to proceed instead with liquidating the organization.

The State Prosecutor's Office had launched criminal proceedings related to Lehtme in May 2023.

The prosecution brought an embezzlement charge against Lehtme over a logistics contract concluded in August 2022, involving an invoice under which Slava Ukraini paid about €44,500 to the Ukrainian company IC Construction to transport humanitarian aid from Estonia to Ukraine.

Prosecutors also allege Lehtme caused more than €450,000 in damage through transactions with companies linked to her close associate Hennadi Vaskiv, arguing this would not have occurred had she fulfilled her managerial duty of care.

In the case of embezzlement, the maximum penalty is up to two years' imprisonment, though ERR reports that based on court precedent, in the event of a conviction Lehtme would likely not serve real prison time.

Lehtme, 37, was elected an Eesti 200 MP at the March 2023 Riigikogu elections. She had run on a platform which stressed her position as a helper of Ukraine. She stepped down in May of that year when the allegations came to light.

A Ukrainian court on Monday convicted Oleksandr Chernov, who exposed fraud in the Slava Ukraini charity, of arms trafficking, handing him a suspended sentence.

Raag said the outcome avoided a harsher sentence but called the case "an injustice" and "fabricated" in retaliation for Chernov's whistleblowing actions, and in fact an act of "revenge."

While Raag conceded that he has no concrete evidence to prove this assessment, "in Ukraine no one has investigated the suspicion that this court case may have been influenced by bribery. At the same time, the activities of Hennadi Vaskiv were investigated and in Ukraine this has led to charges."

Raag praised the Estonian media's scrutiny in helping to prevent a rushed verdict in Chernov's trial, insisted Chernov denies the charges, and noted unproven rumors of judicial corruption.

Raag added Estonia owes Chernov support for exposing corruption, urged the state to monitor his appeal, and criticized procedural violations that undermine fair justice.

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