Estonian police under scrutiny in Brussels

The European Parliament in Brussels has discussed the role of the Estonian police in disturbances in Tallinn in April 2007.

Protesters who clashed with the police as well as representatives of human rights groups took part in the debate.

Video and photographic material not aired on TV channels in Europe has been shown to MEPs.  It's been offered as evidence of cruelty by Estonian police in dealing with demonstrators who took part in riots that began on April  26. The question under consideration is whether the treatment amounts to torture.

Seven hundred people arrested in Estonia in connection with April's riots have been released without charge, according to the Russian Interfax news agency citing the Estonian prosecutor's office.

The rallies erupted in Tallinn after the government decided to relocate the Soviet war monument from the city centre to a military cemetery in the suburbs.

The protests ended in clashes with the police, looting and acts of vandalism.

Dozens were injured in the riots and one Russian citizen died.