A Päjät-Häme district court sentenced 31 October for the first time in Finland members of the far right with the intent of committing a terrorist act. Even if the case is considered the first in Finnish criminal history, it is long overdue and a stark reckoning that white Finns can commit terrorist crimes.
According to earlier news reports, the three convicted men follow neo-Nazi ideology linked to accelerationism, which claims that fundamental societal transformations can be achieved only by accelerating different processes in society.
The principal convict in the case was Viljam Lauri Antero Nyman, 29, who was sentenced to prison for three years and four months. A second convict born in 1996 was sentenced to a year and nine months in prison. A third member was convicted to 1 seven-month suspended prison sentence for aiding and abetting.
The two convicts were charged with aggravated firearms offenses committed with terrorist intent and training to commit a terrorist act.
Nyman used to be a member of the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* Youth and a candidate of the radical-right party.
The convict, Viljam Lauri Antero Nyman, was a municipal candidate for the radical-right PS in 2017 for the northern Finnish city of Rovaniemi.Source: Twitter.
The PS forms part of Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s right-wing coalition government.
Even if Finland is waking up to its far-right terrorism threat, there is still a disconnect with the PS’ role in spreading far-right ideology.
In a video posted by MTV below, the members of the groups warned of an ensuing “race war.”
Watch the video and read the story (in Finnish) here. Source: MTV.
Migrant Tales has been covering several terrorist-related stories in Finland, like the one in 2021 in the Western Finnish town of Kankaanpää.
While far-right ideology has entered Finnish society through parties like the PS and downplaying the issue by others, it has taken many years for Finland to come to terms with its burgeoning far-right problem. After the arrival of over 30,000 asylum seekers to Finland in 2015, far-right vigilante groups like the Soldiers of Odin and others appeared. Their relationship with the police was sometimes unclear.
One of the most notable aspects of the conviction is the silence of the PS and National Coalition Party never mind the two other minor government partners, the Swedish People’s Party and the Christian Democrats.
With the rise of far-right vigilante groups, Migrant Talesreported on 16 arson attacks against asylum reception centers during September-December 2015.
Few at the time, suspected such attacks perpetrated by terrorist far-right groups.
A building that was supposed to house asylum seekers in 2015 in the western Finnish city of Rauma. Source: Helsingin Sanomat.
