"We initially considered registering three candidates, but ultimately, only one made the list," Koos board member Julia Smoli told ERR's Russian-language news portal on Friday. "Aivo Peterson is an honest person, a true Estonian patriot, who deserves to represent his country in the European Parliament."

Peterson has been in pre-trial detention for more than a year; his case went on trial this February.

"He has not yet been convicted," Smoli noted. "We meet regularly, and we can see that the prosecution is trying to convict him only because he was acting in the name of peace. Should the court find him guilty, then we'll figure out what to do next. Right now it's too soon to discuss that."

She expressed confidence that should Peterson be elected to the European Parliament, he will be released from prison.

The other two possible candidates Koos had considered nominating were Smoli herself and fellow party board member Ülle Pukk.

"Pukk isn't running for personal reasons, she isn't in Estonia at the moment, but my reason is purely financial – I couldn't come up with the funds to pay the security deposit," Smoli acknowledged.

The security deposit for running in the elections is €4,100 per candidate. The party pulled together the money needed to register Peterson as a candidate with the help of donations and party membership dues.

​Koos submitted its candidate's registration documents to the State Electoral Office (RVT) on Friday morning already, the National Electoral Committee (VVK) confirmed to ERR.

Treason charges in connection with Russia

Aivo Peterson is currently one of the leading members of the Koos party. Last spring, he ran for election to the Riigikogu on the Estonian United Left Party (EÜVP) candidate list in Ida-Viru County, where he earned 3,969 votes. This equaled nearly 81 percent of the electoral district's simple quota, which is determined by dividing the number of persons who voted in the district by the number of mandates assigned to it.

Peterson had previously made statements in support of Russia's current policies as well as visited Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine, from which he most recently returned early last March.

The Estonian Internal Security Service (ISS) detained Peterson together with two other individuals that same March, upon his return from Russia.

According to the charges, Peterson, a leader of the Koos/Vmeste ("Together") movement, and his codefendant Dmitri Rootsi between October 2022 and March 10, 2023 knowingly and systematically aided Russia and persons working under orders from Russian agencies in nonviolent action against the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Estonia based on guidance received from the Russian Federation.

The defendants are charged with participating in conscious influence activity aimed at establishing a political organization in Estonia promoting Russia's foreign and security polity narratives. According to the charges, this organization was to serve the purpose of providing Russia with the opportunity to jeopardize Estonia's constitutional order, meddle in Estonia's domestic politics and influence its foreign policy.  

Peterson is further charged with aiding Russian citizen Andrey Andronov, likewise charged with nonviolent action against the Republic of Estonia, in nonviolent action aimed against the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Estonia.

If convicted of treason, Peterson could be facing 6-20 years or life in prison.

The 2024 European Parliament elections will be held on June 6-9.

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