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Today, Eesti Ekspress published a survey conducted among Estonia’s top criminal lawyers that sought an answer to the question: which court decision of 2022 do you personally consider the most important and why?

For his part, Andrei Svištš, Head of criminal proceedings at RASK, highlighted the interference with the presumption of innocence in various legal disputes and the need for a more meaningful interpretation of the term in a situation where even the European Commission has initiated infringement proceedings against Estonia for the shortcomings of its court system in guaranteeing the presumption of innocence and ensuring legal remedies.

“At the recently held public session of the Supreme Court, the prosecution maintained that the presumption of innocence may be violated in criminal cases by publishing information about pre-trial proceedings. This is especially significant in a situation where the European Commission has opened infringement proceedings against Estonia for shortcomings in guaranteeing the presumption of innocence and ensuring legal remedies.

Meanwhile, press conferences relating to criminal cases are held in Estonia, and when suspicions arise, there tends to be pressure to dismiss the suspect from their professional post. I would like to hope that as a result of ongoing and future media disputes, the presumption of innocence will be given real meaning and followed more meaningfully in practice.”