DUSHANBE, November 9, 2011, Asia-Plus – Estonia’s Foreign Ministry on November 8 released a statement regarding the prison sentence passed on Estonian citizen Aleksey Rudenko in Tajikistan.

Russian media outlets report the Estonian Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday it may ask for cooperation with Russia and EU countries over the prison sentence of Rudenko.

Russia’s Interfax quoted the Estonian Foreign Ministry representative Mariann Sudakov  as saying that “the motives of the Tajik court are unclear and the detention of the Estonian citizen in Tajikistan therefore remains groundless.”  She added that Estonian citizens serving sentences in third countries could be extradited to Estonia if there is a bilateral or multilateral agreement.

Estonia’s Foreign Ministry has reportedly been working on such an agreement with Tajikistan since 2009.  The Estonian citizen and his lawyers will appeal the sentence.

Estonian Aleksey Rudenko together with Russian Vladimir Sadovnichiy, who operated humanitarian flights to Afghanistan, were found guilty of smuggling, illegally crossing the border of Tajikistan and violating flight rules. Both were sentenced to 8 ½ years in prison each.