The PPA has obtained expert analysis on the monument, a replica of a previous item removed two decades ago, but cannot make public this analysis until the owner is known.

"Because, from these expert opinions, a need arose to clarify exactly some nuances with the monument's owner, then the PPA will have to communicate more with that owner," PPA spokesperson Leana Loide said.

Despite interviewing several parties connected to the installation, no one has acknowledged ownership, she said.

The PPA has as part of an administrative procedure received two expert evaluations on the Lihula monument replica.

Since the PPA intends to first present the evaluations to the statue's owner, who has yet to be identified, the content of the assessments has not been made public, and the object remains in PPA custody.

At the start of last month, the PPA confiscated Lihula monument replica on the grounds it may display prohibited symbols

The two evaluations have been conducted by the Estonian Institute of Historical Memory (Eesti mälu instituut) and the University of Tartu's Center for Applied Semiotics.

At the time of its confiscation the item was being transported by truck to Lihula for installation on private property, and not the same location as the original, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the original monument's removal.

The monument, a large slab of rock with a relief inlaid (see image above), was intended to be sited behind a gas station, near the intersection of Pärnu maantee and Alaküla tee.

Minister of the Interior Lauri Läänemets (SDE) said at the time that the government had been informed of the statue's confiscation, though the decision had been made by the PPA istelf, in accordance with the law.

Martin Sööt, board member of the Eesti Leegioni Sõprade Klub ("Friends of the Estonian legion club"), which organized the commemoration event, said the PPA had not warned them that installing the statue might be illegal. He also told evening paper Õhtuleht that his organization should not be associated with the monument.

The legion referred to was a military unit of the Combat Support Forces of the Waffen-SS  active October 1942 – May 1943 and mostly made up of Estonian soldiers.

The monument commemorates, among others, those Estonians who served in this unit and in the Wehrmacht. 

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