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Estonia: 1,000 young men buying themselves free of conscription with fines
BC, Tallinn, 16.07.2018.Print version
About a thousand young men are paying the state in excess of 150,000 euros in penalties and fines per year for not turning up for conscript military service in the Estonian defense forces, informs LETA/BNS/Postimees.
The list is
headed by young men working in Finland, sons of wealthy businessmen, and
athletes.
The state
fined draft evaders on 221 occasions last year, the average size of a fine was
500 euros and the maximum amount 1,200 euros.
Margus Pae, director of the Defense Resources Agency,
said that rising incomes and inflation have apparently made existing fines
inefficient. A legislative amendment allowing the suspension of draft evaders'
driving license, which is to come in force next year, is expected to improve
the situation.