Ailing Health May Clear Soviet Deportation Officer of Genocide Charges
Facing genocide charges for his involvement in the March 1949 deportations, former commissar Väino Pehk (83) said he has requested that his case be closed due to health reasons.
Pehk told uudised.err.ee that his attorney was certain that the case would be closed. Public prosecutor Anneli Hinto said the court will make its decision next week, when Pehk's health evaluation is reviewed.
According to evidence from KAPO, Pehk was involved in the preparations of the March deportations by gathering information that was used to sentence 174 Estonians to deportation. Allegedly, Pehk also detained and transported three families in Saadjärve municipality.
Pehk was formerly a translator at the Tartu department of the Soviet security ministry. He was also a commissar in the fight against the Estonian guerillas known as the Forest Brothers. He is a member of the United Left, a minor political party that until recently claimed legal succession to the Soviet-era Communist Party.
Ott Tammik