Estonian police fires 10 officers in Narva for poor knowledge of official language

TALLINN. Oct 30 (Interfax) - Ten police officers in the predominantly Russian-speaking city of Narva have been dismissed from service for their lack of proficiency in Estonian, the official language, and they may return after passing a C1 exam.

"Proficiency in Estonian at the C1 level for a Police and Border Guard Board officer is a requirement spelt out in the law. Police themselves cannot break the law," Ida prefekt Tarvo Kruup told the Postimees.rus website on Monday when commenting on the dismissals.

The decision to relieve the officers of their duties concerns employees whose average age is 46.5 and who had several years left until retiring with a special pension. The police officers were unable to pass the exam, despite language courses and other forms of language learning organized for employees, the website said.

However, the officers who were dismissed may return to work if they pass the C1 language exam, the Ida prefecture said.