Supreme Court to hear journalists' fines appeal

The Supreme Court on Monday decided to accept into proceedings the Office of the Prosecutor General's appeal of the Tallinn Circuit Court ruling that overturned fines for weekly Eesti Ekspress and two of its journalists.
State prosecutor Sigrid Nurm asked the Supreme Court to overturn the circuit court's June 14 decision and uphold the Harju County Court's April 14 order to fine Eesti Ekspress and two of its journalists €1,000.
The top court said on Monday that it has decided to hear the appeal. The initial review was conducted by Juhan Sarv, Heili Sepp and Saale Laos.
The circuit court annulled the fines ordered by the first tier court for publishing in an article circumstances of criminal proceedings without the prosecution's permission.
The Harju County Court on April 14 ordered Eesti Ekspress journalists Sulev Vedler, Tarmo Vahter and AS Ekspress Meedia to pay a fine of €1,000 each for publishing, in an article from March 25, information according to which the former board of Swedbank had been handed suspicions of money laundering. The information had not been shared by the Prosecutor's Office and it was not notified of the publication of the article.
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Editor: Marcus Turovski