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Rein Lang (born July 4 1957 in Tartu, Estonia) is an Estonian politician, member of the Estonian Reform Party, and diplomat. He is currently serving as the Minister of Justice.

Childhood and Education

Lang grew up partly in Finland, where his father served at the Soviet embassy in Helsinki. Lang is consequently a fluent speaker of Finnish and a champion for Finnish-Estonian relations. Lang has a law degree from the University of Tartu.

Career in Business

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Lang briefly co-owned an event management and concert promotion business. In 1992, Lang along with Hans H. Luik founded the first independent radio station in Estonia: Radio Kuku. Over the next several years, Lang launched two more radio stations, Radio Uuno and the Russian-language Radio Tallinn (later renamed Radio 100). In 2002, Lang and Luik sold their radio interest to their then co-partner from the United States, Metromedia International Inc.

Political career

Following his departure from the media business, Lang served as deputy mayor of Tallinn and as a member of Riigikogu. He served as the Deputy Speaker of Riigikogu and Chairman of its European Affairs Committee. He was briefly the minister of Foreign Affairs during 2005. When the new government was announced by Andrus Ansip, Lang was nominated to the post of Minister of Justice, a position he officially took when the government was constituted on 12 April 2005.

Birthday party controversy

On July 4, 2007, Rein Lang celebrated his 50th birthday at a beer restaurant in Tartu, Estonia. The invitations to the celebration said that the high spot of the program would be a performance of the play Adolf, an anti-fascist drama by Pip Utton, and asked to dress in the style of Munich beer houses of early 1930s. It also pointed out that this era was characterised by poverty, and stressed that the event was not intended as a fancy dress party.

Russian media spun this event as the minister "decorating his birthday with swastikas". Interestingly, the Russian news agencies have neglected to mention the topic — a cautionary tale — of the play, and have instead concentrated on a set element of the play, a Nazi flag hung vertically, presenting it as an arbitrarily chosen party decoration rather than a stage prop.

The Nochnoy Dozor group has made calls in Russian media for the minister to resign over the event.

References

1. ^ Postimees July 6, 2007: Rein Langi juubelipidu äratas huvi Vene meedias
2. REGNUM July 5, 2007: Estonian justice minister “decorates” his birthday party with swastika
3. ITAR-TASS July 5, 2007: Estonian minister marks jubilee under aegis of Nazi Swastika

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