A far-right activist in Finland has been found guilty of two counts of attempted murder after stabbing two children in a shopping centre in Oulu last summer, Anadolu has reported.
Oulu District Court found Juhani Sebastian Lamsa guilty on two charges of attempted murder concerning a stabbing attack on two children at the Valkea Shopping Centre in the city last summer, Yle News said on Monday. Lamsa, 34, a neo-Nazi with a history of violent crimes, seriously injured a 12-year-old and attempted to stab a 14-year-old, both of whom were foreign nationals.
Despite the prosecution’s request for a 10-year prison sentence, citing the racially-motivated nature of the attack, Lamsa will not face a prison sentence because a court-ordered psychological assessment determined that he was not criminally accountable at the time of the attack.
Lamsa told the court that he thought he was being watched and that an intelligence agency could read his thoughts. His defence team argued that the attack was not premeditated. He will undergo treatment prescribed by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare.
The court also ordered Lamsa to pay approximately €17,000 ($17,900) in compensation to the 12-year-old victim, around €6,500 to the 14-year-old, and €1,000 to a security guard at the shopping centre.
His criminal history includes a conviction for pepper-spraying Left Alliance politician Dan Koivulaakso at a 2012 Oulu Pride event and a stabbing at a book launch in Jyvaskyla.
His attack on two children in Oulu was part of a series of racially motivated stabbings in the city last year, including a December incident where a 15-year-old, found not criminally responsible, stabbed a man in what police believed was a “copycat” attack.
The BBC reported at the time that Lamsa’s attacks shocked Finland and were condemned by politicians.
“There is no place for racism or racist violence in Finland,” said President Alexander Stubb on social media. The BBC quoted Prime Minister Petteri Orpo describing the stabbings as “disgusting”. Opposition Social Democrats in Finland, added the broadcaster, have proposed an “urgent debate” in parliament to discuss “far-right violence”. Only the far-right Finns Party opposed the initiative.
“Although the number of recorded hate crimes in Finland has increased in recent years, violent attacks are extremely rare,” said the BBC. It pointed out that PhD student Samina Kazi-Prat moved to Finland from India in 2018. Oulu’s safety was one of the main reasons she chose to live and study there.
A young woman who moved to Oulu from the Middle East and wished to stay anonymous told the BBC in June last year that she has been “a target of racist comments on social media.” Oulu is not safe now, especially for us foreigners,” she said.