TALLINN: An Estonian soldier who was sentenced in the United Arab Emirates to a month in jail and 80 lashes for sexually harassing an Egyptian policewoman while drunk has been pardoned, a defense official in Estonia said Sunday. The ruler of the emirate of Sharjah has pardoned Andrei Korol. Corporal punishment has been averted, Major Peeter Tali, a spokesman for the Estonian defense forces, told AFP. An Islamic court earlier this month sentenced Korol to one month in prison and 80 lashes for consuming alcohol and sexually harassing the policewoman at the airport in the conservative emirate of Sharjah, where the Estonian soldier had stopped off on his way home after a tour of duty in Afghanistan as a UN peacekeeper. The policewoman accused Korol of trying to rape her as she slept in a women s staff room during a break. Korol was pardoned after he pleaded for greater leniency after an appeal court reduced his sentence for drinking alcohol from 80 lashes to 40 lashes, Tali said. For the charge of sexually harassing the policewoman, the appeal court ordered Korol to pay a fine of 2,000 dirhams ($545). This punishment is considered to have already been carried out as he has been in prison for more than 40 days, and each day in prison in the UAE is the equivalent of a fine of 100 dirhams, Tali said. Korol s documents are in order and he can leave the UAE, Tali said. The Estonian soldier has admitted he was exhausted and drunk when the alleged incident occurred, but insisted he did not remember touching the policewoman or approaching her in any way. AFP
Estonian soldier pardoned in UAE, avoids flogging: official
