Two men detained for suspected espionage in Finland
The Helsinki district court has arrested two men in their 40s on suspicion of espionage after photographing objects in northern Finland.
Quick Look
- Two men in their 40s, living in Härnösand, have been detained by the Helsinki District Court on suspicion of espionage.
- They must have photographed objects in northern Finland during September.
- The Central Criminal Police is leading the investigation, but the details are confidential.
AI-generated summary
Why It Matters
Espionage is defined as obtaining information that affects the country's security with the intention of benefiting a foreign state or harming Finland.
The Central Criminal Police is investigating suspected espionage. It is about a very unusual criminal classification in Finland.
Two men in their 40s were detained by the Helsinki District Court on Wednesday. They were detained according to the lower level of suspicion. According to the Central Criminal Police's arrest request, the suspected crimes took place between August 30 and September 12 this year.
According to HBL's information, the men must have photographed objects in northern Finland. They must have stated to the police that they were taking photographs as tourists.
They participated in the detention proceedings remotely. At least one of them attended from the district court in Kemi.
Otherwise, the detention hearings were held behind closed doors.
The men have the same surname and are registered at the same address in Härnösand in Sweden.
HBL meets the one suspect's lawyer, lawyer Rolle Bergholm, in the district court in Helsinki after his main man has just been arrested. Bergholm does not intend to continue representing the detained man.
- It was a very strange case. I will not continue. The collaboration did not work, says Bergholm.
Bergholm cannot say anything about the content because everything is classified.
At the Central Criminal Police, preliminary investigation leader Jussi Luoto is tight-lipped about the case.
- The preliminary investigation is only at the beginning and I want to secure it.
According to him, the fact that it is the Central Criminal Police that investigates the suspicions depends on the classification of the crime.
He does not want to comment on the information that the men allegedly took photographs, nor where the crimes are suspected to have been committed geographically.
It is espionage when someone "with the intention of benefiting a foreign state or harming Finland" obtains information that affects Finland's security if it comes to the attention of a foreign state.
The penalty for espionage is imprisonment for a minimum of one and a maximum of ten years. Ilta-Sanomat was the first to report on the criminal suspects.
What to Watch
AI outlook — possibilities, not facts
Continued preliminary investigation by the Central Criminal Police.
Very likely · Within weeks
Open Questions
- What foreign state are the men suspected of acting for?
- Which specific objects in northern Finland have been photographed?
