Estonia may have violated Geneva convention
TALLINN- The Defense Ministry may launch proceedings to look into reports that Estonian volunteers on a humanitarian mission to Georgia may have breached the Geneva convention by entering a restricted area in a convoy of the Red Cross, Eesti Paevaleht daily reported.
A punishment could greet for the Estonian volunteers who used the Red Cross as cover to enter the town of Gori controlled by Russian troops, the newspaper said.
Aet Kukk, chief of the press office of the Estonian Defense Ministry, said that under law the name and the symbols of the Red Cross may be used only by the medical services of armed forces, the International Red Cross and its members.
"Other persons may use the symbols only in cases set out in the international law and they must have a corresponding permit or authorization. Misuse of the symbol of the Red Cross is punishable," Kukk said.
The secretary general of the Estonian Red Cross, Riina Kabi, said that using a Red Cross convoy to enter a crisis area constituted a violation of the emblem of the Red Cross.
"Such activity puts the work of the people of the Red Cross in jeopardy and is illegal too," Kabi said.
The Estonian Penal Code gives a fine of up to 18,000 kroons (EUR 1,150) or detention as punishment for misuse of the name or the emblem of the Red Cross.
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