Eesti in brief - 2004-10-06

  • 2004-10-06
Andres Herkel, Estonia's co-rapporteur on Azerbaijan for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, raised the issue of political prisoners in his report on the Caucasian country. Political prisoners are held in Azerbaijan without trial, he stated in the document presented last week in Strasbourg. The country lacks an efficient system of supervision of law enforcement bodies; the right of appeal is totally absent, and an ombudsman has not been appointed into office, the report said. Herkel, a lawmaker from the right-wing Pro Patria Union, and Andreas Gross from Switzerland were appointed assembly rapporteurs on Azerbaijan in June.

The chairman of the Social Democratic Party, Ivari Padar, has called on Center Party defectors who continue in politics as Social Liberals to join his party, claiming the goals of Social Liberals coincide with those of the Social Democrats. "To fulfill our goals, parliamentary forces situated in the center and on the left must join forces," he said in a statement. The board of the Social Democratic Party was set to consider cooperation with the Social Liberals and extending an official invitation at its regular meeting this week.

One thousand one hundred volunteers removed some 105 tons of garbage from Estonian forests during the Clean the Forest! campaign Sept. 27 - Oct. 3. Most of the garbage was taken from forests around the town of Keila and from Viimsi, a suburb of Tallinn. Campaign organizers from NGO Timur and the National Forestry Center pointed out that a great deal of the garbage was construction-related, such as concrete blocks, old window frames and paint products. It was the fourth campaign of its kind this year.

Raising the national flag on state-mandated days will change from obligatory to voluntary for property owners, according to recent amendments discussed in Parliament on the Law on the Estonian Flag. Estonia and Latvia are now the only EU member states in which raising the national flag is obligatory. A house owner in Estonia who does not follow the regulations potentially faces a fine.

Police have detained a group of seven young men aged 13 to 24 in connection with multiple assaults and battery in Harju county. The young men admitted that they were responsible for beating and robbing inebriated strangers and burning a car.

The trade union of Finnish builders, Rakennusliitto, announced a boycott of five Estonian construction companies suspected of illegal or incorrect use of foreign labor, the Finnish news agency STT reported. Five of the six firms are Estonian companies doing business in Finland as subcontractors. The agency named the boycotted companies as ACM Project, Hilakari, Serventio and Martu-Group and proprietor Andrus Lutt, while the sixth is Finland's Foba Oy. The boycott will remain in force until the trade union receives an exhaustive explanation from the firms on the working and pay conditions of foreign workers.