European court accepts Estonian MP's financial information leak complaint
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has agreed to hear a complaint by MP Lea Danilson-Järg alleging the state disclosed her financial information during a public trial.
The case centers on a public hearing in the criminal trial of businessman Parvel Pruunsild and Tartu ex-deputy mayor Priit Humal, during which journalists present in the courtroom later reported on details of Danilson-Järg's finances.
Äripäev reported she had written to Pruunsild, the owner of Bigbank, about a denied loan. Eesti Ekspress said the loan had been applied for by her spouse, and that she wanted Pruunsild to personally intervene. The loan was later obtained from another bank at better terms.
Danilson-Järg's lawyer, Levin's Andri Rohtla, said the information discussed fell under banking confidentiality.
"Neither the prosecutor nor the court deemed it necessary to close the hearing while examining this evidence, despite the fact that other similar evidence was examined in closed hearings," he said.
Rohtla added that his client was never asked for consent and only learned from media reports later that her financial matters had been discussed at a public hearing in Pruunsild's criminal trial. Journalists, he added, drew arbitrary conclusions about them unrelated to the case.
Case could lead to more closed hearings
He noted that since the ECtHR accepts roughly 5 percent of submitted complaints, its decision to hear Danilson-Järg's case signals serious concern about the intrusion into her private life.'
To Rohtla's knowledge, no similar complaints have previously been filed against Estonia.
If the ECtHR finds a privacy violation, it could prompt courts and prosecutors to more often close hearings when sensitive personal information is involved, even for individuals not formally part of a case.
Danilson-Järg was not the only person whose personal matters were aired publicly during the trial despite unclear relevance to the charges. After his acquittal was upheld by the second-tier Tartu Circuit Court, Pruunsild criticized both the Prosecutor's Office and the Internal Security Service (ISS), particularly in connection with searches of his home.
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Editor: Aili Vahtla
