© Mikko Stig
Last Saturday, the District Court sentenced 12 people to pre-trial detention on suspicion of a carnage murder in Helsinki. The professor of criminal law considers the case exceptional.
Matti Tolvanen, Professor of Criminal and Procedural Law at the University of Eastern Finland, estimates that the arrest of 12 people on suspicion of murder at the same time is in itself quite rare. However, the case would be completely unique if all suspects were also found guilty in court, either directly or indirectly.
– Yes, one would not think of a time of peace if it were true that all 12 have been either partners, instigators or donors in the act. At least I do not have a similar case in my mind now, at least Tolvanen says.
– Usually we have one factor in a felony, at most two or three.
A person convicted of murder always receives a life sentence in Finland. The same punishment awaits the instigator. The length of the donor’s judgment, on the other hand, is very much determined on a case-by-case basis. In principle, the penalty can be any couple of years to more than ten years in prison.
Also read: Police confirm shocking data: The homicide in Helsinki last week was a carnage
What are the roles of the participants?
Police have remained very silent about the cutting death, and the potential roles of the suspects in relation to the act have not been squandered in public.
Reporters have been revealed mainly the number of suspected perpetrators, the fact that the victim is an adult man and the fact that it is a cutting death. However, the police only acknowledged the information about the cutting of the information in their press release after Lännen Media reported on the matter yesterday.
It has also been reported in the media earlier this week that almost all 12 suspects have significant criminal backgrounds. However, even this information does not come from the police, but from public documents of the judiciary.
Police have justified their innocence on the grounds that the investigation is at an early stage.
Because so little is known about the case, Tolvanen emphasizes that his assessments of the case are mere speculation. However, his prediction is that some of the suspects now in custody may escape the charge of homicide.
– It may happen that as the investigation progresses, some of the detainees fall out in such a way that they are not even charged with manslaughter or involvement in it. For example, there may be some lesser forms of action, such as breaking the grave or destroying evidence or the like.
It is therefore possible that the police have demanded that some of the suspects be arrested, as if by chance, as the course of events and the roles of the individuals may not yet be fully understood. Arrests are also often aimed at preventing suspects from messing up the investigation, for example by destroying evidence.
– It may be that in the early stages of an investigation, people have to be arrested with very little evidence, because they want to secure access to evidence as completely as possible, Tolvanen says.
It is also possible that some of the people now imprisoned will not end up on suspicion of any crime.
– It is possible that not everyone will eventually be prosecuted as the investigation progresses and the matter becomes clearer. However, this is all mere speculation, Tolvanen reminds.