Estonian security police officer's case returned to Russian Prosecutor General's Office
PSKOV. June 8 (Interfax) - The case involving Estonian police officer Eston Kohver is being returned to the Prosecutor General's Office, Yevgeny Aksenov, a lawyer for Kohver, told reporters after the first hearing in the Pskov regional court.
The lawyer said the case is being returned to Moscow. "Kohver will be transferred to Moscow and then he will be returned to Pskov, where the trial will be held," the lawyer said.
He would not explain the reasons.
The investigation may take at least two more months, Aksenov said.
The lawyer said that the charges against Kohver and the qualification of his case remain unchanged despite the return of the case to the Prosecutor General's Office. He said he should be returned to Pskov by this time.
At the same time, Aksenov told the paper Postimees that Kohver may be returned to Moscow for "some more work." He could not say why Kohver needs to be returned, saying the trial is a closed one.
In his case, the trial will continue in Pskov in August, he said.
The lawyer could not say how long the trial will last. He said the main purpose of the defense is that the defendant should get the minimum prison term. The minimum prison term is ten years in jail.
Court press officer Yulia Bron, for her part, said she is not confident that Kohver will return to Moscow, but Justice Larisa Bobrova "has neither confirmed nor denied that" to her.
Officers of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) detained Kohver with a large sum of money and arms on the Russian-Estonian border on September 5, 2014. A court in Moscow ruled to arrest him on espionage charges the next day. He was later charged with weapons smuggling and illegally crossing the Russian border. Estonian authorities believe that Kohver was illegally detained in Estonian territory. Russian authorities insist that he had crossed the border and was detained in Russian territory.
On June 2, the Pskov regional court took the decision to extend Kohver's detention until August 4, 2015.
Kohver is charged with espionage, weapons smuggling, weapons possession and nine counts of illegal border-crossing.
