Summary

Confiscation of property should not only be treated on the basis of the ESSR Criminal Code and the currently effective Criminal Code. It is incorrect to believe that during the Soviet occupation confiscation of property was always regarded as a supplementary punishment. Pursuant to the Criminal Code of the Russian SFSR, the confiscation of property in full or in part was one of several types of punishment. Confiscation as a supplementary punishment was established in the ESSR Criminal Code in 1961. Pursuant to the currently effective Criminal Code, confiscation of property is invalidated. Does this mean that confiscation of property applied under the conditions of the Soviet occupation is void? The answer is no. A new law can be considered retrospective only within the scope of the same legal system. Therefore, only confiscation which the courts applied pursuant to the ESSR Criminal Code in the restored Republic of Estonia may be considered void in the Republic of Estonia.
The voidance of confiscation of property is, first and foremost, a political decision and needs the opinion of the Riigikogu.