Court Drops Leak Charge, Upholds Embezzlement in ex-Police Official's Case
After hearing an appeal, Tartu District Court today reversed a charge for leaking state secrets, while upholding embezzlement and forgery charges against former police anti-narcotics bureau chief Jarek Pavlihhin.
The court also upheld the conditional sentence, a little over 1 year, that was handed to Pavlihhin by Tartu County Court last February.
Tartu District Court found that the information disclosed by Pavlihhin was not categorized as classified information, and that had it been classified, intentional disclosure of state secrets did not take place.
The episode is not over, however, as it was reported yesterday that the Prosecutor's Office has brought an additional charge against Pavlihhin for disclosure of classified foreign intelligence. A criminal investigation was initiated last January, charges were brought in April and a preliminary trial is set for June 3.
Pavlihhin was in preliminary detention from April to December last year.
In the initial case, he was charged with embezzling 15,000 euros between 2006 and 2011 and document forgery. According to uudised.err.ee, the missing money was meant to be paid out to a police informant, but never was.
Pavlihhin had worked in the police for 13 years and has been awarded with the title of best criminal investigator in Tartu County.