2016 Helsinki Asema-aukio assault

The 2016 Helsinki Asema-aukio assault happened on 10 September 2016, when Jesse Tornianen, a member of the Finnish Resistance Movement, a Neo-Nazi organisation, attacked a passer-by who had argued with the demonstrators and spit on them with a jumping kick.

[1] Because of the kick, the 28-year-old Jimi Joonas Karttunen[2] fell down, hit his head to the street and suffered a cerebral haemorrhage.

[11] Jimi Karttunen's parents described him as a humane, international and sensitive poetic boy, who accepted people from all countries to Finland.

[12][7] The perpetrator of the assault is Jesse Eppu Oskari Tornianen (born 1990), a member of the Finnish Resistance Movement.

[20][24] The Finnish Resistance Movement held a demonstration in Helsinki, Finland on the Asema-aukio square in front of the restaurant Vltava on Saturday 10 September 2016.

When passing the people holding flags Karttunen had stopped, spit in front of them and said a negative opinion about the Finnish Resistance Movement.

[30][31][32][33][34] After this, Jesse Torniainen, who had been standing on the other edge of the row in the direction of the station, sprinted towards Karttunen and kicked him hard on the chest.

[31][19] On Friday he began to feel ill at his home and managed to dial the emergency telephone number before losing consciousness.

According to the defense, a suitable sentence would have been 1.5 years of prison with parole, based on the great amount of publicity caused by the event.

The suspect Jesse Torniainen told the district court that his motive had been that the victim had threatened members of the Finnish Resistance Movement with violence.

[55] The court refused the prosecutor's demand of charges for severe manslaughter because there had been no connection between the jump kick and the victim's death.

[55] According to the court it had been possible that the victim's own activity, such as leaving the hospital against the staff's recommendation, could have significantly affected the worsening of his cerebral haemorrhage.

[57][42][58] The surgeon also said that the victim had had a good prediction of recovering from his brain damage wound and he had suffered no neurological symptoms during his treatment.

The surgeon also said he felt it was extremely rare that a cerebral haemorrhage would still worsen in the brain three days after receiving the head wound.

[57][42] The prosecutor immediately said he intended to take the matter to the court of appeals[59] because of the connection between the jump kick and the victim's death[60] and probably also because of the racist motive.

[61] The prosecutor took the matter to the court of appeals, which raised Torniainen's prison sentence to two years and three months on 26 January 2018.

[63] Flowers and candles were brought at the front doors of the Helsinki Central railway station on the evening of Saturday 17 September 2016 and people also stopped at the scene.

[36] The actual memorial place is not in front of the main doors, but instead near the entrance on the Asema-aukio square where the assault happened.

President of Finland Sauli Niinistö said at a press conference held at a refugee meeting in New York City that the violence that had occurred at the Helsinki Asema-aukio square cannot be accepted.

[70] Prime Minister of Finland Juha Sipilä said it was important to investigate the legality of organisations aimed at violent action.

[78] Because of Karttunen's death, the event centre for the state council in Finland now also informs the prime minister about matters related to the citizens' safety around the clock.

[82][83][84] On 30 November 2017 the district court of Pirkanmaa declared the Nordic Resistance Movement as discontinued because of illegal and blatantly tasteless activity.

The supreme court ordered the activity of the movement to be temporarily forbidden and ceased until a final solution had been found for the matter.