PM death threat man named
Criminal police apprehended a man at the end of October who on social media threatened to kill Prime Minister Taavi Rõivas. That man has now been named as 31-year-old Martin Kattai.
Kattai is a former IRL member who had recently been seen at EKRE protests, and after being detained by police at the end of October, has now been released and is under house arrest, pending an investigation, Postimees reported.
According to the daily, Kattai spied on Rõivas at a concert to promote tolerance at the beginning of September and sent a letter to Reform Party secretary general Martin Kukk a few days later, saying, in a mistake-laden language, than they, not specifying who exactly, will probably kill Rõivas, and that they will continue until no migrants come to Estonia.
Kattai ran at the 2013 local elections for EKRE, collecting 21 votes in Tallinn. After he was detained by police, the EKRE faction in the Parliament asked Interior Minister Hanno Pevkur (Reform Party) if searching homes and questioning social media activists was in line with democratic and pluralistic principles, Eesti Ekspress reported.
The initial investigation found that the man gathered and shared information on the possible home of the prime minister. The man also described the working tactics and resources of Rõivas's bodyguards.
“Threatening to kill a man is not acceptable and authorities had to react. There were clear danger signs in the behavior of the man, such as direct statements which included threats against a high-ranking state official and reference to concrete steps, like observing the threatened party,” State Prosecutor Steven-Hristo Evestus said.
According to the Penal Code, if Kattai is found guilty, he could face up five years in prison.
Editor: J.M. Laats