The right-wing opposition parties Res Publica and Pro Patria Union will officially decide whether or not to merge on June 4. Under the statutes of Res Publica, more than two-thirds of party members taking part in the meeting must vote in favor of the merger. However, Pro Patria Union statutes require a minimum 50 percent vote. The extended boards of both parties, which will formally deliver the proposal at the general meeting, have already endorsed the consolidation. Res Publica Chairman Taavi Veskimagi told the Baltic News Service that the new party should acquire a name at the beginning of June.
Former Defense Minister Margus Hanson will appeal to the Supreme Court over a sentence convicting him for leaking state-classified data. Marti Haal, the 48-year-old former minister's lawyer, informed the Tartu circuit court about his intention. The court will write a motivated judgment by May 12, on the basis of which Hanson and his lawyer can write an appeal. The circuit court upheld Hanson's conviction in a lower court for the loss of data containing state secrets and also found him guilty of enabling access to confidential documents. The circuit court upheld a fine of 97,500 kroons (6,230 euros) levied by the lower court.
The Interior Ministry and the Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate signed agreements on turning over six church properties in the northeastern Ida-Viru County. The documents were signed at the Pyhtitsa Orthodox Convent in Kuremae by the ministry's authorized representative and representatives of the Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. The properties are located in the cities of Johvi and Narva, the village of Jaama in the Illuka municipality, the Lohusuu municipality, and two in the village of Alajoe.
Tallinn police detained a man who shot at a public bus from his apartment window last week. The 25-year-old shattered two bus windows, but luckily didn't harm any passengers. Police arrested the man in his Umera Street apartment in Tallinn's Lasnamae district, where he had been consuming alcohol with his friends. "His drunken actions constituted a grave breach of public order, which could have had extremely grave consequences," said police chief superintendent Margus Kotter. The delinquent confessed and handed over his pellet gun to police. The man also admitted to having shot five holes into the rear window of a car parked nearby.
