Next week, on Dec. 11, the Viru County Court will discuss whether to release Alexei Vassiljev, a spokesman for Viru County Court told ERR. However, neither the prison nor the prosecutor's office support Vassiljev's early release.

On March 21, 2018, Harju County Court convicted Vassiljev of being an FSB agent and sentenced him to four years in prison for non-violent activities directed against Estonia and for preparing a computer-related crime. His imprisonment started on the day of his arrest on Nov. 4, 2017.

After Vassiljev's arrest, the Internal Security Police said the target of Vassiljev's activities were Estonian state agencies.

Vassiljev is a resident of Kingisepp in Russia's Leningrad oblast who started studying computer programming at Sillamäe Vocational School and in the summer of 2017 started his studies at Tallinn University of Technology's Viru County College in the same speciality.

A year ago, Vasiliev gave an interview to Postimees while in prison, in which he said that he was afraid to refuse the FSB officers who had recruited him. The young man also complained that once he was sent to prison, he ceased to be of interest to the Russian special services.

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