Russian ex-minister takes entry ban to Estonia's top court

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Russia's former nationalities minister Valery Tishkov who was prohibited from entering Estonia two years ago has contested the Tallinn circuit court's decision which deemed his entry ban lawful in the Supreme Court of Estonia.

«Valery Tishkov submitted an appeal in cassation against the circuit court's ruling,» a spokeswoman for the second-tier court told BNS on Monday and added that the circuit court would forward the appeal to the top court.

The Supreme Court received Tishkov's appeal on Sept. 23, communications specialist Liis Linn confirmed to BNS. In her words, it is too soon to tell how long the top court's reply might take as the matter is in the preliminary processing stage.

Tishkov has been twice denied permission to enter Estonia, first in October 2014 and then in April of this year.

On Oct. 12, 2014 Tishkov was barred from entering Estonia at the Tallinn airport as the Interior Ministry had imposed an entry ban on him. The Russian academician was supposed to speak at an event of the media club Impressum.

Border guards did not allow Tishkov into Estonia because of the five-year entry ban imposed on him in 2013, spokespeople for the North prefecture of the Police and Border Guard Board told Postimees at that time. As is the practice, the authorities as a rule do not comment on the reasons for an entry ban.

In April this year Tishkov was to speak at the conference «Nation-building and nationalism in today's Russia» that was organized by Tallinn University and cosponsored by the University of Oslo and the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, but he was again not allowed to enter Estonia.

The Russian academician's appeals sought invalidation of the Interior Ministry's decision and removal of his data from the state register of prohibitions on entry, but the court found the request to be unreasonable.

In recent years also the pro-Kremlin Italian journalist and former member of the European Parliament Giulietto Chiesa, Russian journalist Igor Korochenko and deputy director of Russia's Institute of the Commonwealth of Independent States Vladimir Zharikhin have been refused permission to enter Estonia.

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