On Friday night, a Pakistani was brutally attacked by a group of youths and stabbed at least twenty times and repeatedly hit with ax causing, among other injuries, a fractured skull. The police are quiet until Tuesday when it puts out a statement, which does not mention that this may be a hate crime.
If the attack is a hate crime, it is without a doubt one of the worst ever reported in Finland.
But that is not what the police thinks. Detective Chief Inspector Mikko Minkkinen is quoted as saying in Tuesday’s Helsingin Sanomat that it is not a hate crime.
One problem that some see with Minkkinen’s statement is that it is unconvincing and raises questions like if the police have the proper training to deal with hate crimes.
By ruling out that the crime against the Pakistani immigrant didn’t have “racist motives” is a shallow response and raises more concern among migrants and minorities about their safety in this country.
Read the full story here.
Miro del Gaudio, a lawyer at Lex Gaudius, said that the vital matter to establish concerning the crime is the motive.
“Establishing the motive is important,” he said.
A way of establishing motive is to look at Bias, according to a comprehensive OSCE ODIHR Hate Crime Reporting manual.
Continue reading “Pakistani immigrant stabbed in Vantaa: What constitutes a hate crime?”
