Supreme Court recognizes Imre Arakas's actions as a fight for freedom and rehabilitates him

Estonian news outlet Postimees reports that the Supreme Court has recognized the actions of Imre Arakas as a fight for freedom and rehabilitated him. Arakas is currently serving a ten-year prison sentence for a contract killing, handed down by a court in Lithuania. The report also lists a selection of charges brought against him in a court of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic (ESSR) in the late 1970s.

Sentences in Lithuania and Ireland

A Lithuanian court found Arakas guilty last January of murdering Lithuanian mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter Remigijus Morkevičius in December 2016. He was also convicted of the attempted murder of Gija Zabatšidze in July 2016.

Earlier, Arakas served a six-year prison term in Ireland for conspiring to murder James Gately, a well-known figure in the local criminal underworld. According to the investigation, Gately's rivals hired Arakas to kill him, offering a five-figure sum in euros as payment.

Charges in the Soviet period

The source lists a selection of acts for which Arakas was charged in the ESSR court. In 1977, together with Heiki Teras, he broke into the Tallinn lifeboat station's boat slip and stole an inflatable motorboat. They later stole a boat engine from the Dynamo sports complex's canoe base. On September 30, he and Teras tried to travel abroad without a passport or official permission, but the attempt failed because of engine failure, and wind and waves brought the boat back to shore on the morning of October 1.

The list also includes thefts from the Tallinn Conservatory, a music school and Tallinn's 46th Secondary School. In 1978 he escaped from custody, and on October 13 he forced his way into the Estonian Television building in Tallinn, threatened the guard with a pistol and demanded that he hand over his weapon. On February 27, 1979, together with Teras and Aivar Kalvik, he forced his way into the Dynamo shooting range in Tallinn, hit the warehouse keeper on the head with a pistol butt and demanded the keys to the weapons storage. From it, 13 pistols and 1,248 cartridges were stolen.