Court rules that decision to expropriate Estonian Orthodox Church office premises was lawful

The Harju County Court ruled that the Tallinn City Government’s decision to terminate the lease agreement with the Estonian Orthodox Christian Church was lawful. This ruling marked the end of a year-long process in which the Church was the target of politically motivated attacks by the state. This was reported by Postimees.ee.

The case concerns a building on Pikk Street in Old Tallinn, where the EOC’s office has been located since the 19th century. An indefinite lease agreement was signed in 2005 on preferential terms: the Church paid half the market value. In 2024, the authorities demanded that the premises be vacated, but the EOC refused, claiming the right to historical continuity.

After the refusal to vacate the premises in Old Tallinn, the city authorities sharply increased the rent. The church filed a complaint with the ECHR, and the Estonian special services accused the EOC of negotiating with Rossotrudnichestvo (the Russian Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States, Compatriots Living Abroad, and International Cooperation) about financing a Russian-language school in Tallinn and attempting to set up a scheme for transferring funds from Russia.

The court’s decision coincided with the adoption in Estonia of a new law “On Churches and Parishes,” aimed at banning the EOC. It is reported that the law passed its third reading in the Riigikogu with the support of 60 deputies against 13. However, the president of the republic vetoed this decision of the country’s parliament.

Earlier, we reported that the Estonian Orthodox Christian Church (EOC) and the Pyhtitsa Stavropegic Convent had filed complaints with the European Court of Human Rights over violations of the rights of Orthodox believers by the Estonian parliament. The EOC’s lawyers noted that, within the framework of the current state policy towards the Church, the clergy and believers had exhausted all possibilities for legal settlement of the disputes that had arisen within Estonia.