The Tallinn Circuit Court overturned the earlier county court ruling on Meelis Eskola, known as DJ Cityflash,

He was convicted in April 2025 of raping a young mother at a party venue in Paide in May 2022. Eskola denies the charges.

The circuit court, the second tier of the Estonian court system and which acts as an appeal court, overturned that part of the Pärnu County Court's earlier ruling that left the three-year prison sentence for rape conditionally unenforced.

Under the circuit court's fresh ruling, Eskola must serve real prison time.

The county court had found Eskola guilty of rape and sentenced him to three years in prison with a four-year probation period. He was also ordered to pay €7,000 in non-pecuniary damages to the victim.

Eskola's appeal went through all three court tiers. The Supreme Court upheld his conviction and the civil claim in May of this year, but sent the question of enforcing the sentence back to the circuit court for reconsideration.

Since the conviction and civil claim had already entered into force, the circuit court considered the case solely on the basis of a prosecutor's appeal, which sought Eskola's incarceration.

Under Supreme Court precedent, actual imprisonment is the rule for more serious crimes, and deviation from that — e.g. a suspended sentence — is justified only in exceptional circumstances, which must be apparent both in the act committed and in the offender's personhood, the court found.

The circuit court found that the arguments presented by Eskola's defense — such as the one-off or unintentional nature of the act — did not constitute exceptional circumstances. The court noted that the rape provision itself provides for liability for a single act, and that the county court's assessment of the offense as "average" in fact confirms the absence of exceptional mitigating circumstances.

Given the gravity of the crime — raping the victim in several ways, exploiting another individual's helpless state and using violence — and the absence of mitigating circumstances, the court found no basis for more lenient treatment of Eskola than imprisonment.

The circuit court's ruling can be appealed to the Supreme Court within 30 days.

Eskola stood trial on charges under the Penal Code provision on rape. According to the charge, he had sexual intercourse against the victim's will, at a party venue in the central Estonian town of Paide, on May 7, 2022.

According to the indictment Eskola dragged the victim, a young mother, into a rest room and threw her onto a pool table. The victim attempted to push him away but was unable to, after which the defendant had intercourse with her, causing her pain during the act, pressing a pillow into her face and pulling her hair. An examination found bruises and abrasions on the victim's body, including on her legs, buttocks and genitals.

According to the charge, Eskola committed the rape with violence. He also exploited the fact that the woman was unable to resist due to alcohol intoxication and being physically weaker than him.

In the civil claim, the victim sought non-pecuniary damages from the defendant at the court's discretion.

At the first two court levels — Pärnu County Court and Tallinn Circuit Court — Eskola was acquitted. On November 1, 2024, however, the Supreme Court overturned that acquittal too, finding among other things that the courts had given the defendant's statements preferential treatment to the victim's and had not compellingly justify their positions.

The Pärnu County Court found Eskola guilty on April 8, 2025 and sentenced him to three years in prison, suspended with a four-year probation period, and ordered him to pay €7,000 in non-pecuniary damages.

On November 25, 2025, the Tallinn Circuit Court overturned that sentence and the damages award, imposing one year and six months, suspended with a two-year probation period, and €2,500 in damages.

On May 29 this year, the Supreme Court overturned the circuit court's ruling and reinstated the county court's, except for the part suspending the sentence, and sent the case back to the Tallinn Circuit Court for reconsideration in a different composition.

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