Digital evidence in criminal proceedings: do we trust it too easily?

In Estonian courts, digital evidence tends to be treated as reliable until the opposing party manages to prove otherwise. An estimated 85% of criminal cases rely on digital evidence, yet the Code of Criminal Procedure contains no definition of digital evidence and no separate requirements for collecting or verifying it. NAMM attorney Simone Eelmaa writes about this gap in a recent Juridica article.

According to Simone, the logic of verification in Estonian practice is often turned on its head. Those who collect the evidence are not required to document even basic authenticity and integrity, yet anyone who doubts it is expected to point to specific signs of tampering. With large volumes of data, finding such traces without specialist knowledge is close to impossible. Read more in Juridica (2026/5).