Deal for Transfer of Prisoners from Peru May Take Years
Although headlines yesterday implied a deal may be reached for the transfer of Estonian prisoners facing drug charges in Peru, it is now being reported that such a deal would not materialize until after the first three years of each sentence is carried out.
"Negotiations for transferring prisoners is in the beginning stages, but based on the experience of the Spanish and British it can be said that reaching a deal for the transfer of prisoners could be possible in one to three years," Sven Schwede, Estonia's consul general in New York, told Postimees.
After that, inmates would have to pay a 3,000-4,000 euro fine to the Peruvian government in exchange for being transferred.
Two Estonian women were charged with drug trafficking in Peru on October 19 and are being held at Cuzco prison while an investigation continues. Currently, 37 Estonian citizens are serving prison sentences for drug crimes in six South American countries, including 15 in Peru.
Some observers have asked why the Estonian government has seemingly gone out of its way to support the two Estonian women, having sent a diplomat to Peru to negotiate a transfer to Estonian prisons. Others have argued that the women in question were young and foolish, saying that having to endure the rough Peruvian prison conditions would be an excessively harsh punishment.