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🇪🇪 Estonia /Crime & Justice

Rule of law reaches an interim finish, Laanet says innocent people must no longer be dragged before courts

From Postimees · () Estonian

Translated from Estonian and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Outcome reported
  • Former Justice Minister Kalle Laanet, finally acquitted in a case linked to a rent benefit, has called the outcome an interim finish for the rule of law.
  • Laanet says he wants to prevent innocent people from being prosecuted, while his lawyer Oliver Nääs is calling for reforms to criminal procedure.
  • Nääs says the reforms should limit the prosecution’s seemingly near-unlimited authority over criminal cases and court referrals.

Kalle Laanet says his final acquittal in a criminal case linked to a rent benefit marks an “interim finish” in the fight for the rule of law. The former justice minister does not intend to stop there.

Laanet has set himself the goal of doing everything he can to ensure that innocent people do not end up in the prosecution’s jaws in the future. His comments frame the case not only as a personal legal victory, but as a warning about how criminal proceedings can affect people who have not committed a crime.

Oliver Nääs, the prominent lawyer who defended Laanet, shares the concern. He says Estonia’s current criminal procedure needs reform so that the prosecution no longer has what appears to be almost unlimited sole authority to conduct criminal cases and send them to court.

About this summary

Originally published by Postimees in Estonian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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