The second-tier Tallinn Circuit Court agreed with summer's ruling on Prosecutor Eve Soostar, who had been charged with falsifying the documents – apparently to lighten her workload.

The circuit court upheld the first tier Harju County Court's June 14 ruling and dismissed an appeal filed by Soostar's defense lawyer, finding no grounds to grant it.

The county court found the prosecutor guilty of falsifying a consent form for plea agreement proceedings and using the falsified form, sentencing her to six months in prison in suspended sentence provided the defendant does not commit any other intentional criminal offense over a one-year probation period.

The court found it proven that Soostar removed the victim's consent form from the criminal case file — in which the victim had expressed opposition to plea deal proceedings — and replaced it with a form she had prepared herself, in which the victim appeared to agree to the use of a plea bargain. She then attached a digital signature confirmation sheet from the victim's original consent form, which gave the impression the victim had signed the replacement form.

According to the court, by adding the falsified consent form to the file and forwarding it to the court, Soostar also fulfilled the definition of the offense of using a falsified document. The court agreed with the Prosecutor's Office that the purpose was to obtain the right to resolve the case via simplified proceedings, carrying out her duties with a lighter workload than other types of proceedings would have entailed.

Soostar was also accused of having falsified and used a falsified civil claim, but had been acquitted of those charges in June. Under the provision she was charged with, falsifying a document is a punishable offense, but the court found a civil claim does not meet the definition of a document in the relevant understanding of current law.

The court did not identify any mitigating or aggravating circumstances, and also ordered Soostar to pay €1,419 procedural costs.

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