Estonian fugitive Galojan appeals extradition ruling in UK top court

Photo: Priit Simson / Postimees

Anna-Maria Galojan, a former Estonian NGO leader sentenced to jail for embezzlement, appealed the decision made by a British court in November to extradite her to Estonia.

On Oct. 29, 2012 a British court decided not to extradite Galojan. The decision was overturned in a court of the next tier on Dec. 16, 2013 and the case was sent back to a lower-tier court which reached a decision on July 4 this year. The Westminster Magistrates' Court in London decided to extradite Galojan to Estonia.

This decision was appealed by Galojan in the High Court of Justice which on Nov. 27 decided to extradite Galojan.

On Dec. 12 Galojan decided to appeal the decision of the High Court of Justice. According to spokespeople for the Estonian Ministry of Justice the ministry is not aware whether the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom is to accept the case.

Galojan, the former head of the Estonian European Movement, fled to the UK to avoid serving a prison sentence for embezzlement and document falsification. Her conviction and partially non-suspended jail sentence became final in January 2012 when the Estonian Supreme Court threw out an appeal filed by her defense. In the defense's view lower level courts had erred against procedural rules and the top court should have revoked the rulings and sent the case back to the court of the first instance.

The Harju County Court in May 2011 sentenced Galojan to 22 months imprisonment of which five months is real jail time and the rest conditional with four years probation. Besides she was prohibited from serving in governing bodies of legal entities for three years. The court ordered Galojan to pay the NGO 47,956 euros. The appeals court added a fine for delay in the amount of 17,650 euros to the sum owed.

Galojan pleaded not guilty at the trial that started in March 2011, denying both gross embezzlement and document falsification.

According to the information gathered during the pretrial investigation Galojan committed the breaches in the period from June to September 2007 after she had become board member of the Estonian European Movement.

The statement of charges listed 15 criminal episodes from which it appears that Galojan spent more than 900,000 kroons (EUR 57,500) of the NGO's money in just three months, most of it on expensive garments, travel, beauty services and jewelry.

The investigation found that Galojan, taking advantage of her access to the NGO's financial means, embezzled a total of 930,743 kroons. Of this 125,000 kroons was paid back in 2007.