Sentence passed against Estonian spy Kohver enacted

The sentence passed against Estonian security police officer Eston Kohver has been enacted as nobody has appealed against it.

The Supreme Court of Russia has confirmed this news. Earlier Kohver’s lawyer Yevgeny Aksyonov said that no appeal had been filed. The deadline for appealing was Aug 31. In an interview to Interfax, Aksyonov assumed that the Estonian authorities might be going to settle the situation diplomatically.

According to EADaily, on Sept 5 2014 43-year-old Kohver sneaked into the territory of Russia’s Pskov region, where he was to meet with a Russian border guard he hired some six months before. But he was detained. He had a Taurus pistol, 5,000 EUR and special covert recording equipment. 

The investigators found out that Kohver hired a man named Ivanov for obtaining secret data for his country’s special services. With Ivanov he met twice. On June 19, he gave the Russian 1,000 EUR and a month later, when he got secret data about five agents of the Pskov office of Russia’s Federal Security Service, he gave him 55,000 RUR. Then Kohver asked Ivanov to inform him about freelance employees of the Pskov office of Russia’s Federal Security Service. The last meeting took place on Sept 5, when Kohver paid Ivanov 2,100 EUR. Right after it, Kohver was detained. On Sept 11 he was sentenced to 15 years in jail for espionage, smuggling, illegal possession of arms and illegal crossing of state border.

The Estonian authorities insist that Kohver was abducted by some unknown armed people near Luhamaa, where he was conducting an anti-smuggling operation. Estonia’s Foreign Ministry has qualified the sentence against Kohver as a violation of the international law. According to Estonian Foreign Minister Marina Kaljurand, together with NATO partners, Estonia will pressure into Russia setting Kohver free.