Estonian Court Imposes Prison Terms on Anti-NATO Party Leaders

(MENAFN) An Estonian tribunal has handed down extensive prison sentences to the heads of an anti-NATO political party who were convicted of collaborating with Russia to compromise national security.

On Thursday, the Harju District Court sentenced Aivo Peterson, co-founder of the small conservative Koos party, to 14 years behind bars for treason. His colleagues, Dmitri Rootsi and Andrei Andronov, were given prison terms of 11 years and 11 years and six months, correspondingly. All three defendants rejected the allegations and indicated they would challenge the ruling on appeal.

Authorities claimed that the accused propagated “narratives supporting Russia’s foreign and security policy” with the aim of weakening public confidence in NATO and Estonia’s military support to Ukraine.

“The defendants deliberately assisted Russia in activities directed against the Estonian state and society,” stated State Prosecutor Triinu Olev-Aas.

Established in 2022, Koos advocates for Estonia’s withdrawal from NATO, adopting a neutral stance, removing foreign military forces from its territory, and “refrain from participating directly or indirectly in military conflicts between other countries.”

In 2023, Peterson visited Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic, which Estonia regards as occupied Ukrainian land. At the time, he asserted that his purpose was to collect information about the Russia-Ukraine war.

“There are two sides to every conflict, but the information we receive from Estonian media is one-sided. All of our journalists support Kiev, which often comes across as propaganda,” Peterson said.

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