Kohver's lawyer: Estonian media's focus prolonged Kohver captivity
Abducted Estonian official Eston Kohver's Russian-state-appointed lawyer, Yevgeni Aksyonov said he is happy to see Kohver back in his homeland, but he would have been sent back earlier, had it not been for the relentless media attention in Estonia.
In an interview with Delfi, Aksyonov said he had no inside information in December, when he said he doubts Kohver will be in jail for much longer, suggesting a prisoner swap could happen.
“Journalists could have written less about it. If you would have written less about it, he might have arrived home earlier,” he said.
Speaking about Aleksei Dressen, the former Estonian security official sentenced to 16 years for treason, and now exchanged for Kohver, Aksyonov said one can not say that one of the two is good, the other one bad, or that one is a hero and the other one not. “For you, Kohver is the hero. Every story has two sides,” he added.
Aksyonov said in December that the trial will start in a few months time, followed by a period of silence, adding then after that, Kohver will back in Tallinn. He predicted the release to happen in summer of 2015.
Kohver's trial began at the beginning of June in Pskov, western Russia, with the guilty verdict coming on August 19. Kohver was exchanged for Dressen in the early morning of September 26.
Editor: J.M. Laats