On 4 January 2014 the Central Criminal Police of Estonia arrested the head of the Estonian human rights organization “Estonia Without Nazism”, Andrey Zarenkov, an internationally well known anti-fascist activist.
There are many reasons to suspect that this involved an outright provocation by the Estonian security service aimed at discrediting a well-known human rights activist and at the same time the entire anti-Fascism movement.
In custody Andrey pleaded not guilty and maintained that the case against him was politically motivated. The obvious discrepancy of insignificance of the offense imputed to Andrey and the punishment - 6 months of imprisonment - also speaks in his favour. The court’s position also causes resentment since in its ruling on pre-trial detention it accepted the frankly racist point of view of the prosecutor’s office: the prosecutor substantiated his demand by claiming that Zarenkov, being ethnic Russian and therefore having kinship ties in Russia, could abscond to that country.
This logic suggests that if Andrey was an ethnic Estonian with no such ties to Russia, he could be released on bail. It is my firm opinion that Andrey Zarenkov suffers for his anti-fascist beliefs and for his activity against the discrimination of minorities in Estonia.
Mr Petrenco,
To ask the Committee of Ministers,
Does the Committee of Ministers find the recent actions of the Estonian authorities with regard to Andrey Zarenkov compatible with the commitments and obligations of Estonia undertaken as a Council of Europe member State? What steps does the Committee of Ministers propose to take in order to ensure the full implementation by Estonia of the European Convention on Human Rights in this particular case?