The 2014 Helsinki University massacre plan was a mass murder planned by two people in Helsinki, Finland. The plan was discovered in spring 2014. The attack never happened, because a third person reported the plan to the police. The perpetrators were planning to kill several people, possibly 50 randomly chosen people, at the University of Helsinki with guns and poison gas. [2] [3]
Two people were charged for planning the attack, a man from Kemi, born in 1990, and a woman from Vantaa, born in 1989. [4] The defendants had devised a plan to obtain firearms by robbing a gun shop and to manufacture arsine gas to kill 50 people at the University of Helsinki. In addition, the defendants had weighed up the possibility of carrying out an attack at the Finnish Parliament or at a football match.
In interrogations, the defendants admitted to having been inspired by the Boston Marathon bombings in April 2013. Neither of them are enrolled at the University of Helsinki. [5]
The accused met each other on 23 December 2012 through the Tor anonymity network. From the start, their discussions concerned planning a mass murder. Possible targets included a movie theater, a marathon, the Finnish Parliament House, the Presidential Independence Day Reception and numerous education institutions. The University of Helsinki was chosen as a target in August 2013, because it would be possible to kill many young people there. The accused acquired much equipment suitable for the attack, such as a crossbow, magazines and a large amount of ammunition, combat belts, gas masks and chemicals suitable for creating poisonous arsine gas. [2] [4] [6]
The accused had originally discussed carrying out the attack on 20 January 2014. The man had travelled to Helsinki on 15 January, carrying the equipment he had acquired, and stayed with the woman. On 17 January, the two accused people had gone to investigate the University premises, and had studied the premises through the Internet. On the morning of 20 January the man said he wanted to move the attack to a later date. He told the woman that he wanted to plan the attack better and acquire more equipment. [4] [6]
The accused had discussed starting the attack by robbing a weapons store near the University. By thus having acquired more weapons, they would have moved straight to the University, where they would have killed people at random. In their discussions, they mentioned locking the exits, setting fire to the building and spreading poison gas. The accused mentioned wanting to die in the attack. [4] [6]
The accused man contacted a third person via Tor anonymity network on 23 January 2014, who had also written texts concerning mass murder. The accused man asked the third person whether they wanted to take part in the attack. After five days of messaging, it became apparent that the attack was planned to take place on 10 March. [4]
The accused man had placed an announcement on the Tor network looking for an accomplice to take part in a "massage". The man was caught when an undercover police officer replied to the announcement. According to the court, the man had used the word "massage" because he had confused it with the word "massacre". [7]
The defendants were nabbed by the police in March, after a 17-year-old girl who had been asked to take part in the attack by the male defendant revealed the plan to her friend. [5]
The accused man was arrested during a home search on 4 March and the woman was arrested on the next day. Equipment for the planned attack was found at both of their homes. Both were declared as imprisoned on 8 March. [4]
The trial concerning the matter began at The District Court of Helsinki on 26 May 2014. [1]
The District Court of Helsinki on 26 June 2014 sentenced a 24-year-old man and woman to prison for three years for a conspiracy to carry out a killing spree at the University of Helsinki.
The attack was initially set to be carried out in January 2014, but the defendants called it off to refine their plans.
Both defendants denied the charges in court, insisting that they had no intention of carrying out the attack. [5]
Human rights in Finland are freedom of speech, religion, association, and assembly as upheld in law and in practice. Individuals are guaranteed basic rights under the constitution, by legislative acts, and in treaties relating to human rights ratified by the Finnish government. The constitution provides for an independent judiciary.
Ilkka Armas Mikael Kanerva was a Finnish politician and a member of the Parliament of Finland. He was born in Lokalahti, now a part of Uusikaupunki in Southwest Finland. He was the Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2007 to 2008. Kanerva was a member of the National Coalition Party.
The Kauhajoki school shooting occurred on 23 September 2008 at the Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences (SeAMK) in Kauhajoki, Finland. The gunman, 22-year-old student Matti Juhani Saari, shot and killed ten people with a Walther P22 Target semi-automatic pistol, before shooting himself in the head. He died a few hours later at Tampere University Hospital. One woman was injured but was in a stable condition.
The response to a school shooting that occurred at the Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences in Kauhajoki, a city in Western Finland, on 23 September 2008 was widespread. In the shooting, 22-year-old culinary arts student Matti Juhani Saari shot and killed ten people before committing suicide. Eight people had been killed ten months before in the Jokela school shooting in southern Finland.
This article is about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) history in Finland.
Climate change has far reaching impacts on the natural environment and people of Finland. Finland was among the top five greenhouse gas emitters in 2001, on a per capita basis. Emissions increased to 58.8 million tonnes in 2016. Finland needs to triple its current cuts to emissions in order to be carbon neutral by 2035. Finland relies on coal and peat for its energy, but plans to phase out coal by 2029. Finland has a target of carbon neutrality by the year 2035 without carbon credits. The policies include nature conservation, more investments in trains, changes in taxation and more sustainable wood burning. After 2035 Finland will be carbon negative, meaning soaking more carbon than emitting.
Finland's overall corruption is relatively low, according to public opinion and global indexes and standards. The 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index released by Transparency International scored Finland at 87 on a scale from 0 to 100. When ranked by score, Finland shared second place with New Zealand among the 180 countries in the Index, where the country or countries ranked first are perceived to have the most honest public sector. For comparison, the best score was 90, the worst score was 12 and the average was 43.
Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu is an annual music contest organised by the Finnish public broadcaster Yle. It made its debut in 2012 as the Finnish selection format for the Eurovision Song Contest, replacing the previous Finnish Eurovision selection Suomen euroviisukarsinta which had been held since 1961.
The 2017 Turku attack took place on 18 August 2017 at around 16:02–16:05 (UTC+3) when 10 people were stabbed in central Turku, Southwest Finland. Two women were killed in the attack and eight people sustained injuries.
Finnish national symbols are natural symbols or Finnish national works and prominent figures that are commonly associated with Finland. The most recognized national symbols include the flag of Finland and the lion featured on the Finnish coat of arms.
The Independence Day Reception is an annual event organised by the President of Finland at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki on 6 December, Finland's Independence Day. Invitations are sent to all members of parliament and other representatives of the national and municipal governments, the ambassadors to Finland, representatives of NGOs, important business people, and people who distinguished themselves during the year in the arts, sports, sciences, and other fields.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Finland has resulted in 1,499,712 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 11,466 deaths.
Events from the year 2020 in Finland
Vastaamo was a Finnish private psychotherapy service provider founded in 2008. On 21 October 2020, Vastaamo announced that its patient database had been hacked. Private information obtained by the perpetrators was used in an attempt to extort Vastaamo and, later, its clients. The extorters demanded 40 bitcoins, roughly worth 450,000 euros at the time, and threatened to publish the records if the ransom was not paid. To add pressure to their demands, the extorters published hundreds of patient records a day on a Tor message board.
The Koskela teen murder was a homicide that happened in Koskela, Helsinki, Finland on 4 December 2020. The victim was a 16-year-old whose name has yet to be released by Finnish law enforcement due to privacy regulations. The police charged three boys, all aged 16, with the murder. They were incarcerated in the Helsinki District Court on 10 December. The perpetrators and the victim knew each other beforehand. According to the police, the motive for the act was to punish the victim for some earlier activity.
The Cannonball Motorcycle Club (CMC) is an outlaw motorcycle club in Finland and Estonia. Founded in Helsinki in 1991, the club has eleven chapters and a membership of over two-hundred. Cannonball MC is designated as an organized crime group by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
Kai Paananen is a Finnish businessman who owns the oil brokerage company SET Petrochemicals and the consulting company Southeast Trading. Before this, Kai Paananen has worked e.g. in a company called Karelia Trade Oy. Karelia Trade Oy was founded in 1978, Karelia Trade Oy was owned by Kai Paananen's father Yrjö Paananen, Martella Oy, Teräs Oy, Lakan Betoni Oy and the cities of Lappeenranta and Imatra. Only later did Kai Paananen become the owner.
Aura Salla is a Finnish politician and a Member of Parliament.
Mohammad Al-Emara is a Finnish international football referee. He is named the Veikkausliiga Referee of the Year in six consecutive seasons (2018–2023), voted by the league players. Currently Al-Emara lives in Helsinki.