Estonia Court Denies Parole for Convicted Russian Spy

Estonia’s Tartu County Court on Wednesday denied parole for a former chief of the Estonian Defense Ministry's security department, Herman Simm, who was sentenced to 12.5 years in prison for espionage on behalf of Russia, the press service of the court said.

TALLINN (Sputnik) — Simm allegedly became a contact person for the Committee for State Security of the USSR in 1980s. Investigators found out that Simm, who served as the chief of the Estonian Defense Ministry's security department in 2000-2006, had handed some 3,300 classified documents to the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service.

"The court finds that although the risk of Simm committing a new crime is low, it is not possible to set him free on parole due to general preventive reasons, because he committed a very serious crime," the statement read.

In 2009, Simm pleaded guilty to treason and has already served more than a half of his sentence, finishing in March 2021.