Jaan Teemant

Jaan Teemant (* September 24 1872 in Vigala, County Läänemaa; † possibly July 24, 1941 in Tallinn) was an Estonian lawyer and politician. 1925-27 and 1932 he was Head of State of the Republic of Estonia.

Life

After graduating from the prestigious Hugo Treffner Gymnasium in Tartu Teemant studied law at the University of Saint Petersburg. After graduating in 1901 he worked as a lawyer in Tallinn.

Early Teemant discovered his passion for political issues. 1904/ 05 he was a member of the Tallinn City Council. He took an active part in the revolution of 1905 and was forced to flee into exile in Switzerland. In the absence he was sentenced by a tsarist court to death. In 1908 he was able to return to Estonia, but spent one and a half years in St. Petersburg in custody.

1917-1919 was Teemant member of the Estonian district administrator ( Eesti Maanõukogu ) and 1919/20, a member of the Constituent Assembly of the newly founded Republic of Estonia. In 1918 he became the first Attorney General of the country.

Teemant was a longtime member of the Estonian Parliament ( Riigikogu ) and twice as State Elder ( Riigivanem ) Head of State of the Republic of Estonia (December 15, 1925 - December 9, 1927 and February 19, 1932 - July 19, 1932 ). In addition, he worked as a lawyer until 1940 and from 1919 to 1925 Chairman of the Estonian Bar Association. In 1932 he became Dr. jur. H.C. the University of Tartu.

After the Soviet occupation of Estonia Jaan Teemant was arrested on July 23, 1940 by the NKVD. His fate is unknown. Maybe he was executed in the summer of 1941 in Tallinn.