Legislative Actions of Estonia to Combat Organized Crime

Abstract

From 2002 belonging to a criminal organization or leading one is punishable in Estonia. While making relevant changes to Estonian Penal Code, Estonian legislator took into account requirements of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. The Estonian courts have been applying respective law for over ten years now and have encountered several difficulties. For instance, the notion of `criminal organization` still is debatable as in practice it should be distinguished from ordinary groups that gather occasionally to commit crimes. In addition, the problems related to the principle of ne bis in idem may arise in case the authorities have failed to investigate a crime of belonging to a criminal organization or leading one and crimes that a person has committed while belonging to the organization in the same criminal procedure. This article introduces these problems as well as gives an overview of historical development and current status of Estonian criminal law in the area of combating organized crime.