The Helsinki Court of Appeal has overturned the conviction Jari Aarnio his role in the 2003 assassination.
The Helsinki District Court previously ruled that Aarnio had prior knowledge of the Swedish-Turkish contract murder Volgan Ünsal but did nothing to prevent the crime.
The court sentenced Aarnio, the former head of the drug unit of the Helsinki Police Department, to life imprisonment.
However, the Court of Appeal found that Aarnio had no special responsibility for preventing the murder and did not appear to have been involved in the act, and also dismissed the prosecutor’s alternative charge of convicting Aarnio of aiding and abetting the murder.
The court upheld the lower court’s decision to dismiss Aarnio’s charge of murder against a former gang boss. Keijo Vilhunen. The district court had previously held that the prosecutor had not conclusively demonstrated Vilhunen’s involvement.
Preliminary information about the murder
In the district court, the prosecutor said Aarnio had been informed in the summer of 2003 that a contract had been made for the spirit of Ünsal, who had stolen money from his accomplice after the robbery at Arlanda Airport in Stockholm.
Ünsal participated in the witness protection program but later left it.
Aarnio warned Swedish police of a murder plan sometime before Ünsal’s trip to Finland in September 2003, and the district court ruled that Aarnio had a duty to protect Ünsal’s life because he also ordered the surveillance of the suspects in Finland. However, he did not share his information and did not take steps to protect Ünsal.
Four men – three Finnish citizens and a Swedish man who ordered the attack – were sentenced to life imprisonment on 16 October 2003 for the murder in Vuosaari, Helsinki.
Aarnio has already served 13 years in prison for several crimes related to drug trafficking and misconduct.
Source: The Nordic Page