Estonia's top court to review case of man jailed for killing four people

Photo: Margus Ansu / Postimees

An Estonian man who was sentenced to life imprisonment for killing four people at the beginning of the 2000s and who has been avowing his innocence since then heard the long-awaited news on Wednesday when it was announced that the Supreme Court had agreed to review his case.

The defense lawyer for Anatoli Nikolajev, Anti Aasmaa, filed a review application to the Supreme Court in December saying that after the entry into force of the verdict several new facts have surfaced and so the case should be reopened. It took nearly eight months for the court to decide whether to accept the case for review and on Wednesday it finally decided to do so.

Nikolajev was charged with and found guilty of killing four people, including a pregnant woman, in Kohtla-Jarve on Apr. 19, 1998. At first Nikolajev confessed to the murders but has later repeatedly said that he was innocent and that he was pressured to take the blame by investigators.