Former Russian minister takes entry ban to Estonia's top court
Russia's former Minister for Nationalities Valery Tishkov, who was first prohibited from entering Estonia two years ago, has contested the Tallinn Circuit Court decision deeming his entry ban lawful in the Supreme Court of Estonia.
"Valery Tishkov submitted an appeal in cassation against the circuit court's ruling," a spokeswoman for the second-tier court told BNS on Monday, adding that the circuit court would forward the appeal to the top court.
The Supreme Court received Tishkov's appeal on Sept. 23, Communications Specialist Liis Linn confirmed to BNS. According to Linn, it was yet too soon to tell how long the top court's reply might take as the matter was in the preliminary processing stage.
Tishkv has twice been denied permission to enter Estonia — first in October 2014 and again in April of this year.
On Oct. 12, 2014, Tishkov was barred from entering Estonia at Tallinn Airport as the Estonian Ministry of the Interior had imposed an entry ban on him. The Russian academic was supposed to speak at an event hosted by media club Impressum, but Estonian border guards did not allow Tishkov into Estonia due to the five-year entry ban imposed on him in 2013, spokespeople for the North Prefecture of the Police and Border Guard Board (PPA) told Estonian daily Postimees at the time.
The Estonian authorities as a rule do not comment on the reasons given for an entry ban.
In April of this year, Tishkov was scheduled to speak at a conference, "Nation-building and Nationalism in Today's Russia," which was organized by Tallinn University and cosponsored by the University of Oslo and the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, but was once more blocked from entering Estonia.
The Russian academic's appeals sought invalidation of the Ministry of the Interior's decision and the removal of his data from the state register of prohibitions on entry, but the court found the request to be unreasonable.
In recent years, others who have been refused permission to enter Estonia as well include pro-Kremlin Italian jornalist and former MEP Giulietto Chiesa, Russian journalist Igor Korochenko as well as Vladimir Zharikhin, deputy director of Russia's Institute of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Editor: Editor: Aili Vahtla
Source: BNS