Jaan Teemant

Who is Jaan Teemant?

Jaan Teemant was an Estonian lawyer and politician.

Teemant studied in H. Treffner's Private High School. In 1901 he graduated from the Department of Law the Saint Petersburg University. He was a solicitor in Tallinn. In 1904–1905 was a member of the Tallinn Municipal Council. Teemant participated in the revolution of 1905, escaped to Switzerland in the same year and was sentenced to death by default. In 1908, he came back to Estonia after the end of the state of war, was in pretrial imprisonment in 1908–1909 and was sentenced to prison for one and a half years. He served the sentence in Saint Petersburg. In 1911– 1913 he was in exile in the Arkhangelsk Province.

After returning to Estonia, Teemant was a member of the Estonian Province Assembly from 1917 to 1919. In 1918 he was Attorney General of the Republic of Estonia. During 1919–1920 he was a member of the Constituent Assembly and during 1923-1934/1937 he was a member of the II-V Riigikogu. In 1939–1940, Teemant was the Estonian trustee in the German Trustee Government. On 23 July 1940 Teemant was arrested by the NKVD, and was probably shot in Tallinn or died in the Tallinn Central Prison. According to other data he was sentenced to prison camp for 10 years on 21 October 1941, with no further information on his fate.