European Court of Human Rights

Court's judgments and decisions by country. Finland application no. 0..9999. Saaristo and Others, Aho, K.U., Eerikäinen and Others, Eloranta, Iltalehti and Karhuvaara, Soila, Knaster.

1. 184_06.html -- The case of Saaristo and Others v. Finland, European Court of Human Rights -- The case originated in an application (no. 184/06) against the Republic of Finland lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) by two Finnish nationals, Ms Satu Sirkku Saaristo and Mr Hannu Tapani Savola, and a Finnish newspaper company, Ilta-Sanomat Oy (“the applicants”), on 28 December 2005. The second applicant Mr Savola died on 13 February 2007. However, his children Mr Hans Mikael Savola and Ms Saana Johanna Savola expressed their wish to pursue the application. For practical reasons Mr Hannu Tapani Savola will continue to be called “the second applicant” in this judgment.
2. 2511_02.html -- European Court of Human Rights. The case of Aho v. Finland. Application no. 2511/02. -- The applicants were born in 1942 and 1960 respectively and live in Tampere. The first applicant’s husband and the second applicant’s father, Mr Pentti Aho, died of cancer on 14 May 1992. He had been in receipt of sickness pension since 1981 and in 1986 he had been diagnosed with cancer of the larynx. He had been smoking cigarettes from 1941 to 1986. On 6 May 1988 Mr Pentti Aho instituted proceedings against two companies, British American Tobacco Nordic Oy (former Suomen Tupakka Oy) and Oy Rettig Ab (hereinafter “the tobacco companies”), claiming compensation for the cancer caused by smoking cigarettes. Essentially he based the claim on false and illegal marketing and on violations of a ban on selling harmful products. On 16 June 1988 the Helsinki District Court (raastuvanoikeus, rådstuvurätten) held its first hearing. Upon the parties’ request the case was adjourned until 6 October 1988. Subsequently the case was adjourned on several occasions. The District Court received oral evidence from about 30 witnesses, many of whom were medical specialists, including Professor X who claimed that medical science had not been able to prove that there was a causal link between tobacco smoking and cancer. At the 15th hearing on 28 January 1992, the plaintiff requested a postponement pending the outcome of a criminal case before the Espoo District Court, which was to be examined in April 1992. The request was, however, refused.
3. 2872_02.html -- European Court of Human Rights. The case of K.U. v. Finland. Application no. 2872/02. -- On 15 March 1999 an unknown person or persons placed an advertisement on a dating site on the Internet in the name of the applicant, who was 12 years old at the time, without his knowledge. The advertisement mentioned his age and year of birth, gave a detailed description of his physical characteristics, a link to the web page he had at the time, which showed his picture, as well as his telephone number, which was accurate save for one digit. In the advertisement, it was claimed that he was looking for an intimate relationship with a boy of his age or older “to show him the way”.
4. 3514_02.html -- European Court of Human Rights. The case of Eerikäinen and Others v. Finland. Application no. 3514/02. -- The case originated in an application (no. 3514/02) against the Republic of Finland lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) by two Finnish nationals, Mr Pentti Eerikäinen and Mr Matti Paloaro, on 25 January 2002. The second applicant was the former editor-in-chief of the third applicant, a publishing company named Yhtyneet Kuvalehdet Oy (“the applicants”). The second applicant died on 21 August 2008. His children Mr Ari Paloaro and Ms Ulla Paloaro expressed their wish to pursue the application. For practical reasons Mr Matti Paloaro will continue to be called “the second applicant” in this judgment.
5. 4799_03.html -- European Court of Human Rights. The case of Eloranta v. Finland. Application no. 4799/03. -- The applicant was born in 1939 and lives in Masku. On 16 February 1980 the applicant was injured in a car accident. On 15 October 1980 the Turku City Court (raastuvanoikeus, rådstuvurätten) rejected her request to increase the amount of compensation she had already received from an insurance company. She unsuccessfully appealed against the decision to the Turku Court of Appeal (hovioikeus, hovrätten) and subsequently the Supreme Court (korkein oikeus, högsta domstolen), which gave their decisions on 13 May and 5 October 1981 respectively. Subsequently, another insurance company, as well as the Social Insurance Institution (kansaneläkelaitos, folkpensionsanstalten) granted the applicant a pension on grounds of her disability. On 14 September 1993 the Supreme Court partly annulled the above court decisions in the light of new medical evidence presented by the applicant. On 1 December 1993 she filed a new claim for compensation alleging that she had become permanently unfit for work due to her physical injuries and a traumatic stress reaction caused by the accident. On 8 November 1994 the Turku District Court (käräjäoikeus, tingsrätten) ordered the other party to the accident and the insurance company to pay the applicant approximately 1,500,000 Finnish marks (FIM), mainly for loss of income. On 9 March 1995 the police started a pre-trial investigation, suspecting the applicant of, inter alia, multiple fraud. The applicant was questioned as a suspect for the first time on 19 April 1995.
6. 5635_09.html -- European Court of Human Rights. --
7. 6372_06.html -- European Court of Human Rights. The case of Iltalehti and Karhuvaara v. Finland. Application no. 6372/06. -- The applicant company is based in Helsinki. The second applicant was born in 1954 and lives in Helsinki. The applicant company publishes a nationwide newspaper called Iltalehti and the second applicant is the editor-in-chief of that newspaper. On 4 December 1996 A., the National Conciliator (valtakunnansovittelija, riksförlikningsmannen) at the time, and B., his female friend, entered late at night A.'s home where his wife was present. The situation escalated, the police were called and the incident, which subsequently involved also A.'s grown-up children, led to A.'s arrest. Following this incident, criminal charges were brought against both A. and B. on 18 December 1996. On 16 January 1997 the Helsinki District Court (käräjäoikeus, tingsrätten) sentenced A. to a four-month conditional prison sentence for resisting arrest and for criminal damage (vahingonteko, skadegörelse), and B. to a fine for assault. On 17 January 1997 the Council of State (valtioneuvosto, statsrådet) dismissed A. from his post as National Conciliator. On 25 June 1998 the Appeal Court (hovioikeus, hovrätten) upheld the judgment with respect to B. As regards A., the case was discontinued as he had died on 14 May 1998. On 15 December 1998 the Supreme Court (korkein oikeus, högsta domstolen) refused B. leave to appeal. On 17 January 1997, one day after the Helsinki District Court judgment, the Iltalehti newspaper published an article about A. and B. with a title “A. defends fiercely his post”. The article focused mainly on A.'s conviction but in the caption to B.'s picture, her name, conviction and the fact that she was A.'s female friend were mentioned. Prior to this article, the identity of B. had been revealed at least in a Finnish magazine on 7 January 1997 (see Tuomela and others v. Finland, no. 25711/04, 6 April 2010).
8. 6806_06.html -- European Court of Human Rights. The case of Soila v. Finland. Application no. 6806/06. -- The applicant was born in 1973 and lives in Helsinki. He was a journalist on the nationwide magazine 7 päivää. On 4 December 1996 A., the National Conciliator (valtakunnansovittelija, riksförlikningsmannen) at the time, and B., his female friend, entered late at night A.'s home where his wife was present. The situation escalated, the police were called and the incident, which subsequently involved also A.'s grown-up children, led to A.'s arrest. Following the incident, criminal charges were brought against both A. and B. on 18 December 1996. On 16 January 1997 the Helsinki District Court (käräjäoikeus, tingsrätten) sentenced A. to a four-month conditional prison sentence for resisting arrest and for criminal damage (vahingonteko, skadegörelse), and B. to a fine for assault. On 17 January 1997 the Council of State (valtioneuvosto, statsrådet) dismissed A. from his post as National Conciliator. On 25 June 1998 the Appeal Court (hovioikeus, hovrätten) upheld the judgment with respect to B. As regards A., the case was discontinued as he had died on 14 May 1998. On 15 December 1998 the Supreme Court (korkein oikeus, högsta domstolen) refused B. leave to appeal. On 6 February 1997 7 päivää magazine published two articles written by the applicant about A. and B. The first article was entitled “A. collects his female friend every day from work, the relationship continues” and it concerned A.'s and B.'s relationship. B.'s conviction as well as her workplace were mentioned as background information but the major part of the article concerned the journalist's eyewitness statements about how A. and B. spent their free time. The caption of the article stated that “A.'s female friend B. visits his home daily”. Also, several pictures of B. were published. The second article was entitled “The police laughed at the ex-national conciliator, A. arrested the journalists”. It was about A. and his behaviour in certain encounters with the media, and B.'s name was mentioned only in passing. The caption of the article stated that “A. requested executive assistance from the police in order to take his female friend secretly to his home”. Prior to these articles, B.'s identity had been revealed and her picture had been published in the media.
9. 7790_05.html -- European Court of Human Rights. The case of Knaster v. Finland. Application no. 7790/05. -- The applicant was born in 1939 and lives in Helsinki. On 28 August 1992 the applicant opened a joint bank account with her husband, S.K., in Luxembourg. At the beginning of 1994 S.K. fell ill with an incurable disease. He decided that the joint bank account should be closed and the money deposited therein, 132,655.16 U.S. dollars (USD), transferred to a new account, which was to be opened in the applicant’s name at the same bank. The transaction was carried out on 28 April 1994. On 4 August 1994 S.K. died. An inventory of his estate was conducted on 1 November 1994. The applicant did not report in the inventory the money which was still in her account in Luxembourg. On 20 January 1995 she confirmed the inventory of the estate on oath before a court. She did not mention the money in her Luxembourg account. On 31 March 1995 she transferred the money to another bank account in her name in Switzerland. On 3 July 1995 S.K.’s children from his previous marriage filed a criminal complaint with the police alleging that the applicant had embezzled from S.K.’s foreign bank accounts money belonging to his estate. On 16 August 1995 the applicant was questioned by the police for the first time. In August 1995 requests for international legal assistance were sent to the Luxembourg and Swiss authorities. The former replied in either August or September 1997 and the latter did not reply at all. On 24 September 1997 the Helsinki District Court (käräjäoikeus, tingsrätten) confiscated the applicant’s property in the amount of USD 477,609 (equivalent to 2,551,731 Finnish marks (FIM)) as security for the total sum allegedly embezzled by her. Apparently, the applicant’s appeal against that decision was dismissed by the Helsinki Court of Appeal (hovioikeus, hovrätten) on 4 December 1997.

European Court of Human Rights judgments and decisions -- Finland application no. 0..9999