Editorial by Ando Leps, Juris Doctor
SL Õhtuleht, 8 June 2006

M/S Estonia Criminals

When Estonia sank in September 1994, the most important fact was "forgotten," i.e. the ship sailed under the Estonian flag and thus fell under the sovereignty of the Estonian Republic.

Bearing this in mind – the subsequent accident investigation should have been done in accordance with Estonian law and under the supervision and control of the Estonian legal system.

Under Swedish Dictate

But in reality the events took a different turn. Although the chairmen of the Joint Accident Investigation Commission (JAIC), first Andi Meister, Minister of Transportation and Communication, later captain Uno Laur, and the criminal investigator Väino Karmi were indeed Estonians, the real investigation was carried out by Swedes and Finns who investigated the cause of the sinking the way as they saw fit. They withheld and manipulated the evidence from the country whose flag the ship was sailing under while keeping their Estonian colleagues "out of the loop". They refused to let the Estonian government investigator talk to the divers and other officials, etc. They even kidnapped some of the surviving crew members, including captain Avo Piht who was undoubtedly among the rescued.

The representatives of the Swedish government, in a manner not unlike that of the Mafia, wanted to hide the evidence of the crime by covering the wreck with a concrete blanket and sent Swedish military ships to guard the wreck in spite of the fact that it lies in the international waters.

Any impartial investigation was forbidden, which made the conditions for the German Jutta Rabe's diving expedition extremely difficult. The Swedes classified the information pertaining to the military cargo carried on the civilian passenger ferry Estonia, making it a state secret for 70 years!

Considering this, the representatives of the Swedish government led by former Prime Minister Carl Bildt must have had precise knowledge of what actually happened on board the ship and why it sank.

We know from the media that immediately after the sinking, Bildt spent the whole night talking to the heads of the other states involved and offered them the following legend: the ship sank due to high speed and faulty construction in huge waves on a stormy Baltic Sea. The same legend was used by JAIC when they compiled their final report under the supervision of a little known captain Uno Laur (who according to Ülo Kollo, the former Captain of M/S Georg Ots had only worked as a bureaucrat in the office and lacked any experience of working on the sea.) The incompetence of Laur is also seen in the fact that he did not even know whether Estonia Captain Arvo Andresson was on the bridge or not when the ship sank. According to the evaluation of the other seamen, the sea was not at all stormy that night nor did Estonia exceed the normal speed. What actually happened on board the ship and what was carried on the cargo deck, was evidently known also to our Estonian leaders [prime minister] Mart Laar and [president] Lennart Meri.

Lies to the People

In Estonia two commissions have been formed to investigate the sinking of Estonia: the Parliament Commission to investigate the military transfers carried out on Estonia (Chairman Margus Leivo), and the government commission led by leading state prosecutor Margus Kurm.

It is now quite clear that the people have been lied to all along, as if no military equipment was ever carried on Estonia. In reality military cargos were being carried on the passenger vessel already in 1992, and evidently such activities continue to this day, despite the fact that carrying military cargo on a civilian vessel violates the regulations and jeopardizes the safety of the passengers.

Thanks to Mr. Kurm's persistent work, the JAIC Final Report has dropped into severe list.

After Kurm's revelations, our "neutral" media started to blame him of incompetence and lack of objectivity. It is not hard to discern the political powers behind such noise. These people are afraid that the crime of the century may change the status quo and move things in an undesired direction.

The old seaman Ülo Kollo who has worked at sea for 25 years and who served as a captain on M/S Georg Ots when the future captains of Estonia, Arvo Andresson and Avo Piht, worked under him, seriously doubts the correctness of the Final Report and has expressed his opinion about why the ship may have sunk so fast. According to Kollo, Estonia was our elite ship. Is that where the dog is buried?


Kurm in his investigation is blowing wind into the only plausible opinion, i.e. that Estonia must have a hole(s) below the water line which had been caused by explosions. The people on the ship did hear explosions and not only once. This is why, with the view to further investigation the wreck must be salvaged. The divers can't be trusted any more. In the opinion of the metal businessmen the cost of salvaging the ship would be recovered by selling the scrap metal from the wreck.

The Grave Treaty signed by seven countries must not prevent the investigation of the crime of the century and the punishment of the guilty. The most amazing thing is that, where it concerns Estonia, the different ruling parties of the governments of Sweden, Finland and Estonia have shown nothing but arrogance, utter indifference and criminal negligence.

Tõlge eesti keelest Helje Kaskel

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