Insults Aimed at Judges to Be Decriminalized
One of the more controversial statutes - treating certain statements made toward judges and policemen as crimes - is set to change under a package of reforms to the Penal Code.
Earlier this year, Tartu County Court sentenced two people to suspended sentences for comments she made on rus.delfi.ee, a Russian-language version of the popular news site Delfi.
In Estonia, it is currently illegal to insult or verbally abuse court officials and police officers in regard to their professional activity.
The explanatory memorandum attached to the bill called this "overcriminalization."
On one hand, the new bill widens the range of individuals who cannot be insulted to include bailiffs, lawyers, prosecutors and a host of others. But it classifies such an offense as a misdemeanor, not a crime.
Moreover, Insults of such officials in matters concerning their private lives as opposed to their professional activity would be subject to civil action alone.