The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said on Friday it had arrested two men for an attack in mid-July.
Yle recognized one of the men as Jyväskylä City Councilor and member of the Board Teemu Torssonen, which had been expelled from the Finnish Party last May.
The police said in a statement that the Central Finland District Court arrested a 44-year-old man on Friday on suspicion of attempted murder.
Yle said the man was reportedly part of the leadership of Odin’s far-right military group and was also linked to the banned neo-Nazi group, the Nordic Resistance.
According to the investigators, the Central Finland court had previously also placed a 39-year-old man in pre-trial detention on suspicion of attempted murder. The second suspect is also said to have links to the far right.
"The pre-trial investigation is still ongoing and will continue after pre-trial detention [hearings] through interrogations and technical tests. The police will determine the motives for the suspected crime and cannot comment on it as the interrogation continues," NBI Chief Investigator Lead Investigator Jussi Luoto said in a statement.
The suspects had a previous conviction
The 44-year-old suspect had previously been convicted of possession of a dangerous weapon. He found a spring stick in October 2017 in Jyväskylä.
Kataja announced that he had prevented the younger suspect Torssonen from running as a candidate for the Finnish party in last year’s parliamentary elections. The party’s Central Finland chapter made the decision to block his candidacy.
He was later expelled from the party. He had previously been convicted of possession of firearms. He was found to have stored a large number of ammunition for pistols, shotguns and rifles in an unlocked cupboard.
According to Yle sources, the police have considered the men of interest since the beginning of the investigation.
Luoto said the suspects spoke to police during the interrogation and that their interrogation continues. However, he said he could not reveal the nature of their comment.
He added that the case was being investigated as a suspected murder because of the cruel nature of the attack, noting that it is possible that other individuals may have been involved.
Speculation of factors
Long-time nationalist party activist and parliamentary assistant Jouni Kotiaho, Juniper reported suffering from cracking, mild cerebral hemorrhage and three rib fractures during the attack at his home in Jämsä, Central Finland.
Juniper initially said the factors seemed to be "Arabic" but later walked back to the arguments and said he regretted the choice of words. He went on to say that the far right could be behind the attack.
Chairman of the Finnish Party Jussi-Halla-aho and the party secretary Simo Grönroos had initially speculated that the attack was politically motivated.
However, Halla-aho later said that these comments were based on the Juniper story, adding that he did not know what the possible motive might be.
The deadline for prosecutions is 1 December.
Source: The Nordic Page