- Reset +

The President met with the family of Internal Security Service official Eston Kohver

19.08.2015

"Estonia will do everything it can to bring Eston Kohver back home again," President Toomas Hendrik Ilves said, when he visited the family of the Internal Security Service official.

The employees of the Russian special services FSB kidnapped Eston Kohver while he was on duty on 5 September last year, on the south-eastern border of Estonia. Today, Pskov Oblast Court sentenced him to 15 years in prison.

"As far as I am concerned, as with all of Estonia, Eston Kohver remains an officer of the Internal Security Service, an official dedicated to serving his country, one of us, who is currently in a very difficult situation," President Ilves said, who met with Eston Kohver's wife and four small children at their home.

"I thank you for supporting Eston Kohver with your strength, your thoughts and hopes. The knowledge that you are keeping your family together gives him strength and power," the head of state told Eston Kohver's wife. "For my part, I promise that the state will support you in every way."

According to President Ilves, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with its partners in Estonia and abroad are working every day towards bringing Eston Kohver back to his wife, sons and daughter.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Marina Kaljurand said this morning that Estonia strongly condemns Eston Kohver's sentence and his entire trial. "The kidnapping of Eston Kohver on the territory of the Republic of Estonia by FSB on 5 September last year and the subsequent illegal detention in Russia is a gross violation of international law and human rights. Today's sentence does not change our position. We demand that Russia immediately releases Eston Kohver."

Office of the President
Department of Public Relations