Mary Kross false evidence court hearing terminated
Court proceedings against Mary Kross, an American filmmaker and activist who was charged with providing false evidence to the Police and Border Guard Board (PPA), have been terminated on the grounds of lack of public interest.
State prosecutor Ülle Jaanhold made the request, ERR's online news in Estonian reports, quoting investigative weekly Eesti Ekspress, a request which both court and Kross's counsel agreed with.
The termination does not require any admission of guilt, though it presupposes that the act as charged had been committed, it is reported.
Kross claimed that she had been attacked on Stroomi Beach in North Tallinn in November 2018, while walking her dog. Kross said that two men had thrown rocks at her and the dog, injuring the latter, and shouted abuse in English, including exhortations to return to where she came from.
PPA investigations yielded no evidence that Kross, who is married to Reform MP Eerik-Niiles Kross , had been in the area at the time she claimed, and a criminal investigation was then launched.
The hearing was first scheduled for August, at Harju County Court, and was postponed twice, to October. Kross appeared at the hearing via a video link and used an interpreter.
Prosecutor Jaanhold requested the criminal proceedings be terminated under section 202 of the Code of Criminal Procedure: "Since there is no public interest and no great guilt."
Kross has been ordered to pay the state €3,000 within a six month period for the termination to remain in place.
Kross agreed to the prosecutor's request for termination, as did her lawyer, Oliver Nääs.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte
