Estonian court hands mostly suspended sentences in conscription-evasion scheme
Estonia's Harju District Court convicted the head of Armylaw OÜ, an employee and the company itself of fraud and providing false information to the Defense Resources Agency, imposing largely suspended sentences after a scheme that promised clients a legal way to dodge military service.
The Harju District Court in Estonia ruled on Wednesday in a case involving a company that offered clients supposedly legal ways to avoid conscription. Andrei Vesterinen, a board member of Armylaw OÜ, employee Janika Butkevitšus, and the company itself were found guilty of fraud and submitting false information to the Defense Resources Agency (KRA). The court found no evidence of document forgery.
Vesterinen was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison, of which one month and four days must be served immediately; the remainder is suspended provided he commits no new intentional crime during a three-year probation period. Butkevitšus received a fully suspended sentence of two years and four months under the same probation term. Armylaw OÜ was fined €12,000, which will not be enforced if the company avoids a new offense within one year.
How the scheme worked
According to the charges, in 2021–2022 Armylaw advertised legal services on social media and its website, promising clients a "100% guarantee" they would not have to enter military service. Prosecutors said clients were misled into submitting false address information to the population register, using falsified address notices, and changing contact details to prevent the KRA from reaching them. Clients also gave false statements about their language skills to delay misdemeanor proceedings.
The scheme caused total financial losses of €16,224.99 to ten victims. The court determined that the instructions given by Vesterinen and Butkevitšus were unlawful, aimed at circumventing obligations under the Military Service Act, and amounted to submitting false information to an administrative authority.
The defendants were also ordered to pay procedural costs — €4,824.75 for Vesterinen, €3,519.89 for Butkevitšus and €3,279.28 for Armylaw — plus €5,414.88 to cover victims' legal expenses. The court granted the civil claims filed by the victims.
