Simm fights court decision not to release him early
Herman Simm, convicted for treason and facing a remainder of his sentence of another four years, fought the Tartu County court’s decision in the district court on Friday to reject his request for early release.
The Tartu County court found in March that though the risk of Simm (69) returning to criminal behavior was low, he would not be released before the end of his sentence for reasons of both the defense of Estonia’s legal order as well as prevention of future crimes similar to his own.
The only danger identified by the court was that Simm may take up forwarding sensitive information to Russian authorities that he acquired before his arrest. At the same time, the court stressed that the likelihood of this happening was low.
Siim’s request to be released before the end of his sentence in 2021 was supported by Tartu Prison, but opposed by the South district prosecutor’s office.
Siim didn’t agree with the court’s decision and on Friday last week fought it in the Tartu district court.
Simm, who was a high-ranking NATO liaison officer and before his arrest held an advisory position, was found guilty of having sold thousands of documents to Russian foreign intelligence service SVR over a period of 13 years.
Beyond his conviction as a traitor, in a civil action Simm was found to have caused the Ministry of Defence damage in the amount of 20,155,000 kroons, or €1.38 million.
Editor: Dario Cavegn
