Lawyer: Parliament should assess legality of Prosecutor's Office activities

According to defense lawyer Margus Kurm, the Ministry of Justice and the Riigikogu should analyze the case in which three former police chiefs were acquitted and provide a legal assessment of whether the prosecution's indictment was lawful.
Commenting on the case, Kurm said that the Prosecutor's Office currently has no legal responsibility, and no one is asking them why they brought the charges to court; nor is anyone assessing whether it was right or wrong to do so.
Kurm noted that as the Prosecutor's Office is an executive authority, it is subject to parliamentary control and therefore the Riigikogu can oversee its activities.
"I am eagerly awaiting Estonian politicians, led by the Ministry of Justice, but also the Riigikogu's Legal Affairs Committee, to sit down and take a position on this case; to assess whether the investigation was justified and lawful and whether the charges were justified and lawful. I really hope that the Riigikogu will put this issue on the agenda," Kurm said.
In Kurm's view, the case brought against the police chiefs was illegal.
"There have been questions as to whether the charges were justified – my personal opinion is that they were not only unjustified, but that the charges were illegal. Bringing charges is a criminal procedure like any other, and the law regulates when the Prosecutor's Office can bring charges and when it cannot," he said.
Kurm noted that, according to the law, the prosecutor has to be convinced that the facts they write in the charges are true and that they indicate a crime has been committed. That conviction must also be based on evidence.
"Therefore, a prosecutor can only go to court with charges if they have a positive prognosis regarding the court's decision. That is, they have to consider a conviction a more likely outcome than an acquittal. In other words, charges can only be brought to court if there is an overwhelming probability that a guilty verdict will be reached," he explained.¨
Kurm added that cases cannot be brought to court unless there are clear legal reasons to do so.
"Punishing the guilty party is the only legitimate reason for bringing charges to court. If a prosecutor goes to court with a charge in order to create legal clarity or to test some innovative interpretation of the law, then that is not permissible. No person can be used as a means to achieve any other goal. In order to establish legal clarity, there are legal scholars' conferences, the Juriidika journal, and so on. No person may be used as a guinea pig so that lawyers can gain clarity on a particular legal norm. This is a completely illegitimate goal, and if the prosecutor has gone to court with that goal in mind, then they have broken the law," said Kurm.
Elmar Vaher said that he is still digesting the Supreme Court's decision and discussing the next moves with his lawyer.
"The Prosecutor's office has created a situation where they have independence but no accountability whatsoever," Vaher said.
On Monday, Minister of Justice and Digital Affairs Liisa Pakosta (Eesti 200) issued an apology on behalf of the state to police officials who were acquitted at various levels of the court system in a criminal case.
Last week, the Supreme Court upheld the acquittal of former police officials Eerik Heldna, Elmar Vaher and Aivar Alavere in a criminal case concerning the awarding of a police pension to Heldna.
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Editor: Michael Cole, Marko Tooming








