The Chancellor of Justice Indrek Teder is convinced that the immunity of the members of the Riigikogu Mr. Lauri Laasi and Mr. Priit Toobal were unconstitutionally violated when searches of their premises in the frame of a criminal case were conducted without the consent of the Riigikogu.
The two members of the Riigikogu are suspected of illegally obtaining e-mails of a member of the Riigikogu from another political party. The permission of searching the premises of the suspected members were given by the Public Prosecutor’s Office based on a provision of law which in Chancellor’s opinion is unconstitutional since the beginning. Therefore, the Chancellor of Justice decided not to make a proposal to the Riigikogu to waive the immunity of the two members of the Riigikogu and rejected the applications of the Public Prosecutor’s Office.[1]
Based on the amendments of the Law of Criminal Procedure that entered into force on 1 September 2011, for conducting searches in the premises of a suspected member of the Riigikogu only the permission of the Public Prosecutor’s Office is required. In October 2011, the Chancellor of Justice drew Riigikogu’s attention to the fact that these recent amendments made into the Law of Criminal Procedure are unconstitutional. Additionally, on 21 March 2012 he made a written proposal to the Riigikogu to bring the law into conformity with the Constitution. The Riigikogu accepted Chancellor’s opinion and the draft act is currently in the procedure of the Riigikogu. The Chancellor argued in his opinion that the immunity of a member of the Riigikogu expands to all criminal proceedings that intensively invade the rights and freedoms of a member (incl. searches) and those proceedings could significantly affect the free exercise of the mandate. Thus, the searching of premises is strongly involved with the immunity of a member of the Riigikogu and according to the Constitution the only institution who can give the consent to waive the immunity is the Riigikogu.
[1] According to the Constitution § 139 and the Chancellor of Justice Act § 1 (3), the Chancellor of Justice shall make a proposal to the Riigikogu to waive the immunity of a member of the Riigikogu, the President of the Republic, a member of the Government of the Republic, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, or a justice of the Supreme Court, to prepare a statement of criminal charges on that person on the basis of a request by the Public Prosecutor's Office.