The Riigikogu approved the agenda for the working week, according to which 19 issues will be deliberated. Some essential changes were made to the agenda concerning the time table of the deliberation of Bills.

Minister of Justice Ken-Marti Vaher replied to the interpellation (No. 127) concerning the implementation of the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism, submitted on 12 by Members of the Riigikogu Andres Herkel, Mart Laar and Mart Nutt.

The interpellators wished to know why the state of Estonia had not started to implement the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and not established the financing of terrorism as a crime. Minister stressed that the financing of terrorism had been established as a crime for quite a some time already.

?A terrorist crime within the meaning of our national penal law prises not only the commission of a terrorist act, but also the preparation of this act, ??Ken-Marti Vaher explained. The financing of terrorism, within the meaning of the Convention on the Financing of Terrorism, includes also participation in the construction of the crime.

?The person who collects or allocates material resources for the preparation of terrorist acts, takes responsibility as an accomplice in the crime pursuant to § 237 of the Penal Code,? Minister of Justice stressed. ?Estonia has fulfilled the obligation provided for in the Convention, ? he confirmed. As the financing of terrorism is punishable as a crime pursuant to the Penal Code, there is no reason to focus Estonia?s attention on it at the international level. ?Not a single international act binds a Member State to establish the same wording and definitions provided by the Convention; it is, after all, the Member State?s own decision, acceding to its own legal system, ?Minister of Justice marked. ?Likewise the international cooperation will not be impeded by the differences in internal provisions, because, it is important, first and foremost, to bring the offenders to justice,? Mr. Vaher stressed.

The Riigikogu Press Service