Center may appeal party's 'unfair' guilty verdict at European Court of Justice
Center is consulting with lawyers to determine whether it is possible to challenge a verdict that found the political party guilty of a criminal offense at the European Court of Human Rights, said Chairman Mihhail Kõlvart.
"I can confirm that such discussions are ongoing, but we will make a final decision after conducting a legal analysis," Kõlvart told ERR on Thursday.
The chairman said he believes the court ruling is unfair to the 12,000 members of the party.
"I already said on the first day at the press conference that we feel this is unfair to us. But a court case is not about feelings and emotions; it is about legal aspects," he explained.
"We have our own perspective, but since we are talking about a court decision, there is no point in discussing feelings — we need to talk about legal aspects. And we are ready to do so once we have the corresponding legal analysis," Kõlvart added.
He said that the legal analysis would likely be completed by next week, at which point further steps could be taken.
"We know that statistically, the European Court of Human Rights is overloaded, and the percentage of cases it actually takes up is relatively small. That is a well-known fact. But what their potential legal assessment might be — no one can predict. There is no point in speculating too much on this matter," Kõlvart commented.
The party leader has previously said former board members should also take responsibility, such as Jüri Ratas who was the party chairman at the time, and that the party is analyzing how to present Ratas with a financial claim. On Thursday, Kõlvart said that this issue is still under discussion.
"We are currently working on gathering legal arguments to proceed with this matter. But yes, that plan is also in place," said Kõlvart.
On February 7, the Supreme Court upheld the decision of the Tallinn Circuit Court, which was made last March, finding the Center Party, its former secretary-general Mihhail Korb, and businessman Hillar Teder guilty of influence peddling.
The Circuit Court sentenced Teder to one year and five months of suspended imprisonment and the then Center Party secretary-general Korb to one year and two months of suspended imprisonment. The Center Party was fined €750,000, which was increased by the unpaid portion of a previous penalty, resulting in a total financial penalty of €1 million for the party.
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Editor: Aleksander Krjukov, Helen Wright
