Marko Saksing says he has been commemorating those who fell in the 1944 Battle of the Blue Hills (Sinimäed) since 2008, usually wearing the same shirt, but was only penalized for doing so last summer, ERR's Russian-language portal reported, citing local daily Põhjarannik.

Saksing won a seat for Center at the October 2025 local elections, polling 102 votes, which saw him installed as Center Party faction leader at the Jõgeva city council chamber.

He only joined the party in February last year. He was a member of the Reform Party from 2008 to 2013, and subsequently the Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE) until June 2024, Põhjarannik reported.

Põhjarannik had previously reported (link in Russian), in July 2025, that Saksing was attending an event in Sinimäe, Ida-Viru County, site of the 1944 battle, commemorating those killed in World War Two. He was detained by the Police and Border Guard Board (PPA), along with another man, for wearing symbols on their shirts associated with Nazi war crimes and organizations, primarily symbols associated with the Waffen-SS.

Saksing said he had been attending memorial events in Sinimäe since 2008, wearing the same apparel for most of that time without issue, and so appealed the PPA's actions with the Viru County Court, which rejected his appeal and upheld the PPA's decision

The court did, however, reduce the fine the PPA hit Saksing with to €200, from the original €600.

Saksing had been elected to Jõgeva city council at the 2021 local elections too, after polling 332 votes running on EKRE's list; Põhjarannik reported he is also coach and board chair of a local floorball team.

The Battle of the Blue Hills (Sinimäed), also known as the Battle of Tannenberg Line, was a Thermopylae-like last stand of around 22,000 Axis soldiers, mostly of the Waffen-SS, against a Soviet force nearly seven times its size and with a tank advantage of 20:1, during the 1944 Soviet invasion of Estonia. Standard military doctrine has it that a 3:1 advantage is required when on the offensive. The defenders were able to inflict substantial damage before being defeated.

In April 2022, the Riigikogu adopted a law banning the public display of hate symbols. While this followed the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine and so incorporated symbols glorifying that war (including those dating back to the Tsarist era such as the black-orange ribbon) and of the Soviet occupation of Estonia, it also covers those dating back to the Nazi occupation of Estonia and World War Two, and Nazism more broadly.

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