Lawyer for Estonian security police officer expects his release after trial
TALLINN. Dec 4 (Interfax) - A lawyer to Eston Kohver, an officer of the Estonian Interior Ministry's Internal Security Service (KaPo) being held at the Lefortovo detention center in Moscow on charges of spying, believes his client will be released immediately after his trial.
"I don't believe he will remain behind bars for a long time," lawyer Yevgeny Aksyonov said in an interview published in the Thursday issue of Postimees.
Aksyonov suggested that Kohver could be freed through a swap between the two special services. "I expect that, following the judicial proceedings, someone will fly to Moscow and someone to Tallinn. It never happens that intelligence service officers are held in jail in a different country for a long time," Aksyonov said.
"This could be the last New Year's that Kohver will mark in jail. Russia doesn't need him as a prisoner," he said.
Aksyonov pointed out that the Estonian Internal Security Service has not made any statements for the media about Kohver lately.
At the same time, Estonian Consul to Russia Signe Matteus said in an interview published in the same issue of Postimees that "international law was grossly violated in this entire story, starting from Kohver's abduction on Estonian territory."
"Russia is not observing its own laws in holding Kohver in custody, and therefore there is not a single aspect on which his custody or the investigation could be called lawful," she said.
Both the Russian Foreign Ministry and the detention center administration ignored the Estonian embassy's requests for arranging Kohver's meeting with a doctor for two months, she said.
Matteus also criticized Aksyonov's appointment as a government lawyer for Kohver. "A lawyer should regularly meet with a client, explain him the ongoing proceedings and defend his rights and wellbeing. However, Aksyonov's activity has not been such," she said.
The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) detained Kohver with a weapon and a large sum of money on the Estonian-Russian border on September 5. The next day, a Moscow court sanctioned his arrest on spying charges. Estonia insists that the detention took place illegally on the Estonian side of the border, while Russia claims that Kohver had crossed the border and was apprehended on Russian territory.