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World Jewish News
Estonian Law Forbids Closing Site That Incites Ethnic Hatred
18.05.2009
The letter of the law does not permit the Department of Security Police in a legal way to seek the closure of the site, inciting ethnic hatred, particularly against Jews.
The web-page "Der Sturmer ("fighter plane"), located on one of the United States servers, contains a lot of materials in the Estonian language, which praise Adolf Hitler and other Nazi leaders, as well as revive anti-Jewish appeals of
the Nazi Germany times, the Estonian portal ERR Novosti reports.
This page doubts the very existence of the Holocaust. Also, they published a list of "Jews in Estonia", in which many public figures of modern Estonia are regarded as "enemies."
The Commissar of the Department of State Security Police of Estonia, Andres Kahar said that "this topic has been also discussed at the Pyhsk Prefecture of the Estonian capital's police, where they decided the case does not constitute
an offense, so they cannot begin investigation.
The section of the Penal Code which deals with the incitement of hatred is based on real threats to the life, health or property rights of the person," explained
the press officer of the Estonian secret service Kahar.
Under Estonian law, a person can be held liable for inciting ethnic strife only if his or her actions endanger the life, health, or property of the person, or if these actions have caused death, damage to somebody's health, or any other dire consequence.
While spreading the Hitlerite anti-Semitic ideas through an Internet portal in this Baltic country appears to be not punishable.
The regular gatherings of veterans of the Estonian Legion Waffen-SS, called only as "fighters for the freedom and independence of Estonia," are also unpunishable and authorized by the authorities.
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