Koos party's wallet hit hard by legal costs re Peterson

Aivo Peterson, leader of the newly established Koos (Together) party. Photo: Raul Mee

A court last week again extended custody for Aivo Peterson, leader of the newly established Koos (Together) party, and the party, which is asking its supporters for money to pay for Peterson's legal costs, hopes that the case will reach court in two months.

Julia Smoli, a representative of the Koos party, hopes that in two months' time, Peterson's case will be before a court. According to Smoli's calculations, the pre-trial proceedings will cost them 6,000 euros, and at least another 15,000 euros will be necessary during the trial. Thus, the party needs at least 21,000 euros, which, according to Smoli, is a very large amount for them.

Smoli describes Peterson's lawsuit as a politically commissioned case.

Estonia's Internal Security Service (ISS) detained Peterson and two other men on March 10 as suspects in establishing a relationship antagonistic to the Republic of Estonia. The court remanded them in custody for up to two months. On May 9, the court extended custody for Peterson by two more months.

At the end of February, Peterson, whose birth name is Krolov, received extensive attention when he visited the Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine as part of his trip to Russia. Estonia's minister of the interior, Lauri Laanemets, in March described Peterson as a security threat to Estonia, saying that Peterson had to work with Russian special services in order to reach the front line.

Arnold Sinisalu, then director general of the ISS, said in April that the suspicion brought against Peterson is not only related to his activities in the part of Ukraine under Russian occupation, but his activities are longer-term, Postimees reported.

The ISS suspects Peterson of cooperation with Russian state bodies and special services and ISS officials have collected evidence about this, which is being analyzed and processed as part of the investigation, Sinisalu said.