Today, on 9 February, the meeting of the investigation team working on the causes of the environmental pollution in North-West Estonia decided that several members of the investigation team and experts of the corresponding field as the representatives of Estonia will shortly be sent on board the tanker vessel Flawless that is under suspicion as a possible polluter, for taking comparative samples.
According
to the Leading Prosecutor of the Northern Circuit Prosecutor’s
Office Ms Lavly Lepp who is leading the criminal proceedings, legal
aspects of taking samples on board the tanker vessel Flawless are
being prepared at the moment and the time for taking samples will
soon be specified. Besides experts, the investigation team wants to send on board the tanker vessel the representatives of the Central Criminal Police and the Environmental Inspectorate. Legal conditions for taking the samples and whether the samples will be taken in relation with the criminal proceedings or the environmental supervision will be determined by legal circumstances valid at the time of taking samples. As
a result of the inquiries of different journalists we need to explain
that the investigation team is aware of the fact that the person
representing the interests of M/T Flawless has also taken samples
from the north-west coast of Estonia. “The representative of the
other side informed the investigation team of their corresponding
wish on Friday, 3 February. They have not been involved in the
criminal proceedings, but the Estonian coast is open and every person
has a right to take samples on the shore on the condition that they
would not cause further damage to the environment,” said Ms Lepp. From the perspective of criminal proceedings, both sides of the criminal proceedings are equal, i.e. the other side(s) also has (have) a right to gather evidence. “From the perspective of the proceedings it is important to focus on gathering high quality evidence, instead of obstructing the other side in gathering evidence. Afterwards, the court will decide which evidence will be considered,” Ms Lepp added. The Environmental Inspectorate has also informed the Crisis Committee of their wish to take samples.
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