Estonia is considering housing foreign prisoners in one of its prisons, Justice Minister Liisa Pakosta announced, BBC reports. Estonia’s three prisons in Tallinn, Tartu, and Jõhvi have room for around 1,000 additional prisoners, according to ERR. Pakosta estimated that the state could earn up to EUR 30mn per year from renting out prison space to…
A court of appeal in Sweden has sentenced former Swedbank CEO Birgitte Bonnesen to 15 months in prison over money laundering at the bank’s Estonian branch, BNS reports, citing AFP. The court found that Bonnesen had provided shareholders with false information about measures taken at the branch to prevent money laundering. The appellate court overturned…
Lithuania’s Vilnius Regional Court has postponed sentencing in the criminal case against the former owners of the now liquidated Snoras bank, Vladimir Antonov and Raimondas Baranauskas, until 5 November 2024, BNS reports. The Prosecutor General’s Office asked for both to be sentenced to 10.5 years in prison. The pretrial investigation lasted over 7 years, from…
UAE-based messaging platform Telegram has deleted several channels and groups, including ones containing child pornography, following requests from Latvian State Police, LETA reports. However, Telegram has failed to provide information about the creators of the channels. The State Police noted that criminals in Latvia often use Telegram for planning and to sell illegal substances and…
Lithuanian MEP Waldemar Tomaszewski has taken legal action at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) against Lithuanian authorities for discontinuing an investigation into derogatory comments made by TV presenter Arunas Valinskas, ELTA reports. Valinskas had called Tomaszewski, who leads the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania (LLRA), a “Colorado potato beetle” and suggested that…
Estonia’s Harju County Court has acquitted the defendants in a criminal case against the management of the Port of Tallinn due to statute of limitations, ERR reports. The court determined that the accused members of the port’s management board, who were charged with bribery and money laundering, did not act as officials, reclassifying their actions…
The former editor of Russian propaganda channel Sputnik Lithuania, Marat Kasem (Marats Kasems), admitted that his job was to destabilise Lithuania, LSM reported. Kasem said that his work had nothing to do with journalism, but was pure propaganda under the direction of Russia’s presidential administration. He was recently released on bail from detention in Latvia….
The US ambassador to Latvia, Christopher Robinson, expressed concern about the potential for backsliding in Latvia’s fight against corruption, Baltic News Network reported. Speaking in an interview with TVNET, Robinson specifically highlighted Aivars Lembergs, the sanctioned former mayor of Ventspils, as a symbol of the dangers of returning to oligarchic influence. He said that the…
A court in Latvia’s capital, Riga, has arrested three suspects in an arson attack on the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia, LETA reports. The two men and woman arrested all have police records. Investigators suspect that the attack was motivated by hatred for the Latvian state and freedom, potentially influenced by Russia. The investigation…