Justice Chancellor Investigates Legality of Revoking Citizenship
Chancellor of Justice Indrek Teder is reviewing the Citizenship Act to determine whether revoking mistakenly issued Estonian passports is in line with the Constitution.
Over the years, Teder has received several complaints from people whose citizenship has been invalidated due to a past error made by an official, Postimees reported.
The most recent case involved a 15-year-old who had mistakenly received his citizenship upon birth in 1996, although neither of his parents was an Estonian citizen. The police initiated proceedings to revoke the passport, according to Eesti Ekspress.
The current law stipulates that only citizenships mistakenly issued before April 1, 1995 will remain valid, unless the agency finds that falsified personal information was used to obtain them.
In 2011, a total of 63 citizenships were revoked, of which half had been mistakenly issued.
Ingrid Teesalu