Galojan to Apply for Political Asylum (16)

Published: 27.01.2012 16:10

Anna-Maria Galojan ( Photo: Postimees/Scanpix )

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Anna-Maria Galojan, the socialite and one-time Reform Party poster-girl who recently fled to London to avoid a five-month prison sentence for embezzlement, has said that she plans to apply for political asylum in the UK.

"The most horrible thing is when a person is made to do something," Galojan told Postimees. "In any case, I have decided to ask for political asylum in Britain. I was subjected to unprecedented persecution by the judicial authorities of Estonia."

Meanwhile, according to Galojan, the new legal team she took on in London is working to overturn the Estonian sentence, a process which she said would take about a month.

On February 7, Galojan is due to begin serving the prison stint handed to her in May 2011 for abuse of office and embezzlement. The Harju County Court found her guilty of stealing as much as 60,000 euros belonging to the European Movement Estonia from June to September of 2007, when she headed the non-profit organization.

She reportedly used the money for a spending spree, which included purchases of clothing, jewelry, luxury accessories and footwear, as well as trips to beauty salons and travel.

On January 18, her legal options to avoid prison ran out when the Supreme Court threw out an appeal filed by her defense, thereby upholding the initial decision by the Harju County Court.

 

Steve Roman

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Comments (16)

  • ameeriklane

    27.01.2012 17:34

    I don't think the UK will grant her political asylum. To do so would imply that another EU country's justice system is not properly run.

  • Efrosiina

    28.01.2012 09:13

    What make you think that the UK's justice system is properly run. Today in the UK papers I read that parents who killed their 23 day old baby got off scott free, yet someone who stalked someone by texting got two years imprisonment. Go figure!

  • Harry Potter

    29.01.2012 02:21

    Well, she is prettier than most, and most politicians haven't been in Playboy (even the Estonian version), so I think she really should be given asylum. And if not asylum then at least her own talk show.

  • Harry Potter

    29.01.2012 02:21

    And I would like to add that in this photograph she very much resembles Estonia's first lady.

  • Mr. Plod

    29.01.2012 12:52

    Galojan is living in a dream world if she thinks Britain will give political asylum to a convicted criminal on the run from the authorities of a country that ranks number one in the State of World Liberty Index.

  • Edvini

    29.01.2012 14:04

    Five months are nothing for such a sum of money. I guess many Estonians would be happy to stay in prison for 5 months, and get 60 000 euros. That means you get 13.333 euros per month...plus that you don't pay for food and accommodation. I would do that, I don't think there is any job which pays you 13.333 euros per month in Estonia.

  • Question

    30.01.2012 07:59

    Spy games?

  • Roitt

    30.01.2012 10:00

    Does anyone know what this woman's defensive argument it? Does she claim that she did not embezzle the funds (ie that she never took the money from the organisation)? Does she claim that she was entitled to the funds (ie that she took the money but that her shopping spree was a business expense, not embezzlement)? Or does she claim that she did embezzle the funds and spend them on a shopping spree but the sentencing was politically motivated and therefore invalid / impartial?

  • Mart Mang

    30.01.2012 14:54

    No matter what, Estonian women are all beautiful...

  • Brian Mugabe

    31.01.2012 15:07

    Since when is Galojan an Estonian name?

  • Peetri

    02.02.2012 09:26

    What jail?! Send her to work in some social services wearing 2nd hand clothes, singing im eesti nokia becoming true! Extradition warrant for the "princess"!

  • FB

    03.02.2012 21:51

    It's all a joke to her. Every day she posts pictures on her Facebook account of her in some London restaurant/wine bar, or posing in front of red telephone boxes, or ironically - the House of Parliament. Get her back her doing time like she deserves, or like someone said, working in a soup kitchen or something worthwhile.

  • Edvini

    07.02.2012 01:24

    Checked her pictures and posts on Facebook; she is really having a hard time during her asylum in UK....Posh places, expensive clothes, parties. Are they sure she didn't get all that money transferred to UK and now she is spending it there?

  • Estonian

    07.02.2012 01:49

    u are all nuts if u think she looks good. anyway, I am from Estonia and that b**** deserves prison,if she ain't coming back by 7th of February,she will be dragged into prison,and will stay there for a year.In my view she could stay there all her life,i don't give a damn.Criminals should get what they deserve !!

  • karLos

    08.02.2012 01:32

    this individual should be in prison. delay tactics in the uk will only go so far. she is clearly delusional. how she looks is completely irrelevant to how guilty she is or what her punishment should be. it is insulting to women and justice in estonia to think any less.

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