Peeter Helme
© Eero VabamägiPeeter Helme
The Estonian prosecutor's office sent a criminal case file to the court, according to which former editor-in-chief of the Postimees newspaper Peeter Helme is accused of sexual harassment of a minor, err.ee writes.

According to the prosecutor's office, from October 8 to 10, 2018, Peeter Helme tried to seduce a 12-year-old girl via the Internet by sending her sexual messages on social networks. However, in fact, instead of a child, a police agent spoke with Helme. According to the senior prosecutor Andra Sild, since today more and more people spend time at computers, crime has also moved there, including directed against children.

"Specifically, in this case, it should be noted that when a police agent logged into a social network using a username from which it clearly indicated that a teenager was hiding behind him, several adult men who were explicitly sexually explicit wrote to her at once. Thus, this criminal case is only one of several initiated on the basis of communication conducted on this portal. Therefore, I would like parents to once again tell their children about the dangers lurking on the Internet and help them understand what can and cannot be done in the web environment, " the representative of the prosecutor's office said.

Peeter Helme himself had previously stated that he would not plead guilty. A preliminary hearing on this criminal case, which will schedule the upcoming hearings, will be held on April 9 at the Harju County Court in Tallinn. Recall that Peeter Helme served as editor-in-chief of the leading Estonian publication Postimees from April 3 to November 1, 2019. He is the nephew of the current head of the Estonian Interior Ministry, the head of the right-wing Conservative People's Party, Mart Helme, and his cousin, the head of the Ministry of Finance, Martin Helme. Helme's father and son are known for their nationalist views, as well as anti-Russian and Russophobic statements and actions.