Original article (in Bosnian) was published on 9/12/2025; Author: Amar Karađuz
What is the claim?
The European Union has begun arresting politicians and sentencing them to long prison terms for expressing anti-NATO views.
What are the facts?
Politicians from an Estonian party that, among other things, advocates Estonia’s withdrawal from NATO were not convicted for expressing opinions, but for participating in a Russian political influence campaign.
On 15 December, 2025, the website Epoha published an article claiming that the European Union is imprisoning politicians who oppose NATO.
The EU Has Begun Imprisoning Politicians Who Oppose NATO
The European Union has begun arresting politicians and imposing long prison sentences if it is determined that they are “guilty” of expressing anti-NATO views.
The claims in the article refer to a court ruling against Aivo Peterson, co-founder of the small conservative party Koos, who, along with two associates, was sentenced to multi-year prison terms for treason.
Citing RT as its source, Epoha reports that Estonian prosecutors claimed the defendants acted in Russia’s interest by spreading narratives supportive of Russian foreign and security policy, with the aim of undermining trust in NATO and Estonia’s military assistance to Ukraine.
Alongside these claims, a link to the article was shared on various Facebook pages and in different groups.
What are the Facts?
Claims that the EU imprisons politicians for expressing opposition to NATO are incorrect for several reasons.
The European Union does not have the authority to criminally prosecute citizens of any member state for such acts. Freedom of expression and opinion is guaranteed in the EU and constitutes one of the fundamental rights of citizens, not a criminal offense. At the EU level, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) operates with jurisdiction limited to investigating crimes that harm the EU’s financial interests, such as fraud involving EU funds, corruption, or cross-border tax evasion. Although the EPPO conducts investigations and brings indictments, criminal proceedings are conducted before national courts of the member states, which alone have the authority to adjudicate cases and issue verdicts.
The ruling that gave rise to these claims was issued by a national court in Estonia, under Estonian criminal law, and concerned the offense of treason, not the expression or articulation of opinions. Specifically, as reported on 11 December by Estonia’s public broadcaster ERR, an Estonian district court convicted Aivo Peterson, one of the leaders of the Koos party, in a first-instance ruling, sentencing him to 14 years in prison for treason, while his associates Dmitri Rootsi and Andrei Andronov received multi-year prison sentences.
According to the verdict, from late 2022 to early 2023 the defendants knowingly and systematically assisted Russia in activities directed against Estonia’s independence, sovereignty, and constitutional order. The court found that they participated in a political influence campaign, including contacts with Russian politicians, alignment of narratives with Russian foreign and security policy, and participation in media trips to Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine financed by Russia, with the aim of spreading messages that questioned support for Ukraine, NATO and Estonia’s defense capabilities.
The defendants were also charged with attempting to establish a civil defense organization, essentially a form of militia, but the court found no evidence that this initiative received assistance from Russia. The ruling is not yet final, ERR reported, and may be appealed; the defendants denied guilt. The case against Peterson and others did not concern freedom of speech, although ERR notes that the Koos party advocates Estonia’s withdrawal from NATO.
In EU countries, there are no recorded cases of politicians being arrested or convicted solely for expressing political opinions, unless those opinions involve hate speech, incitement to violence, calls to break the law, or other criminal offenses.Therefore, we assess the claim that the EU imprisons politicians for opposing NATO, published by the website Epoha, as fake news. We assign the same assessment to the earliest social-media post making this claim. Subsequent posts are assessed as fake news spreading.
