Äike
11-02-2010, 05:39 PM
Former Soviet Official Tried for Participation in Genocide (http://news.err.ee/2be139c5-55e4-4656-a830-0d6dc7710959)
http://ext.err.ee/imgen2.aspx?mode=25&id=2be139c5-55e4-4656-a830-0d6dc7710959
Photo: Postimees/Scanpix
Charged with partaking in genocide, former state official Väino Pehk (82) goes on trial November 3 in Tartu County Court for his alleged involvement in the Soviet deportation in March 1949.
According to Security Police investigations, Pehk provided information about 61 families selected for deportation to Siberia, reported uudised.err.ee. Moreover, Security Police data shows that Pehk himself seized three Saadjärve municipality families, or nine people of whom four were children between the ages of three and seven.
Pehk was an interpreter for the state security department of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic. He became a high-ranking officer in the initiative to eliminate the forest brothers, the underground resistance movement to free Estonia.
If found guilty, the court could sentence Pehk from 10 years to life in prison.
The last high-profile deportation case involved Arnold Meri - cousin of former president Lennart Meri - but he died in 2009 before a verdict was reached.
http://ext.err.ee/imgen2.aspx?mode=25&id=2be139c5-55e4-4656-a830-0d6dc7710959
Photo: Postimees/Scanpix
Charged with partaking in genocide, former state official Väino Pehk (82) goes on trial November 3 in Tartu County Court for his alleged involvement in the Soviet deportation in March 1949.
According to Security Police investigations, Pehk provided information about 61 families selected for deportation to Siberia, reported uudised.err.ee. Moreover, Security Police data shows that Pehk himself seized three Saadjärve municipality families, or nine people of whom four were children between the ages of three and seven.
Pehk was an interpreter for the state security department of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic. He became a high-ranking officer in the initiative to eliminate the forest brothers, the underground resistance movement to free Estonia.
If found guilty, the court could sentence Pehk from 10 years to life in prison.
The last high-profile deportation case involved Arnold Meri - cousin of former president Lennart Meri - but he died in 2009 before a verdict was reached.