Two prominent Estonian athletes arrested for running brothel
Estonian politicians also involved
Kristjan Rahnu
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Two prominent Estonian sportsmen and a group of women have been arrested on suspicion of operating a brothel, the Estonian daily Postimees reported on its website on Wednesday.
The goings-on were also investigated by the crime programme Pealtnägija ("Eyewitness") on Estonian TV.
Postimees says it was tipped off about the brothel business at the beginning of January. The information was passed onto the authorities.
The Estonian Olympic hope, decathlete Kristjan Rahnu, 28, and the former sprinter Taavi Rim, 34, have both been arrested and brought in for questioning. After two days of hearings the men have been read charges, among other things, for promoting prostitution. In a Postimees photograph, Rahnu was seen in handcuffs while being taken from a lockup to be interrogated.
According to Postimees, Estonian criminal law carries a maximum penalty of 12 years' imprisonment for such crimes.
Rahnu was 6th in the decathlon at the 2005 IAAF World Championships in Helsinki and he also represented Estonia at the Athens Olympics in 2004.
On Wednesday, the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE revealed on its online news pages that two well-known politicians from the Estonian Centre Party (Keskerakonna were also involved in the case. One of them has been an active municipal politician, YLE claimed.
The business activities took place in several private residences in the Estonian capital Tallinn and they were advertised on the Internet and in the printed media.
The television reporters unravelling the scandal had posed as Finnish tourists taken to expensive Tallinn brothels by taxi.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 21.2.2008 - TODAY |
 Two prominent Estonian athletes arrested for running brothel |
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