European Court of Human Rights

Court's judgments and decisions by country. Finland application no. 40000..49999. A.S., Kallio, Kaura, V, Tamminen, Lehtinen, Bruncrona, Bruncrona, Eerola, Suuripää, Toive Lehtinen, Jokitaipale and Others, Eskelinen and Others, Narinen, Lomaseita Oy and Others, Ruokanen and Others, Toive Lehtinen, Juha Nuutinen, Nousiainen, M.S., Pabla Ky, Kukkonen, Kangasluoma, Ahtinen, Ivanoff, Hirvisaari.

1. 40156_07.html -- European Court of Human Rights. The case of A.S. v. Finland. Application no. 40156/07. -- On 20 January 2004 a mother contacted the police on account of a suspicion that her child A., a boy born in 1999, had been sexually abused by a family friend, the applicant. On the same date the police took a statement from the mother. On 26 February 2004 A. was interviewed at the children's hospital at the request of the police. The interview was conducted by a psychologist. The investigating police officer, the head psychologist of the hospital, and the deputy head physician Dr S., specialised in child psychiatry, followed the interview behind a mirrored wall. The interview was recorded on video-tape. The applicant was not present when the interview was conducted and apparently he had not even been informed about the investigation at that point.
2. 40199_02.html -- European Court of Human Rights. The case of Kallio v. Finland. Application no. 40199/02. -- The applicant was born in 1953 and lives in Kaarina. The applicant is the sole answerable partner in a limited partnership company called Porin West-Print Ky. At the material time its line of activities was, inter alia, car repair and painting services, restaurant services and metal work. The National Bureau of Investigation carried out a pre-trial investigation into the business activities of Porin West-Print Ky. The applicant, who was questioned as a suspect in an alleged tax fraud, proclaimed his innocence. In his closing statement, he expressed the view that other companies, represented by two other named individuals, had carried out the business activities which were the subject of the investigation and were therefore liable to pay tax. The file does not disclose whether anyone was charged with and convicted of the alleged offence. In 1999 the south-west Finland Tax Office carried out a tax inspection into Porin West-Print Ky. It found that during the period from July 1998 to 20 December 1999 over 840,000 Finnish marks (FIM) (approximately 141,278 euros (EUR)) had been credited to the company’s account. The money had been paid in by several companies but most of the funds had not been recorded in the company’s books as income. Basing himself on those transactions, the tax inspector considered that there was evidence of a sub-contracting relationship between Porin West-Print Ky and another company, R. Porin West-Print Ky’s line of activities had to be considered to include the sale of sub-contracting services to R. Formally this activity had been carried out in the name of another company T./Porin West-Print Ky and company F. For this reason, the tax inspector considered that Porin West-Print Ky was liable for the deduction of tax and social-security contributions in respect of the salaries paid to identified and unidentified employees. The total amount of the salaries was estimated on the basis of a list of hours worked found in the book-keeping records of R. and the bank statements of Porin West-Print Ky and the applicant. The salaries paid to identified employees ran to FIM 324,681 for the year 1998 and 53,000 in 1999. An additional FIM 50,000 was added in respect of unidentified employees to the estimated salaries for 1998. Based on this reassessment, the Tax Office increased the tax liability and ordered the payment of FIM 359,609 in respect of 1998 and FIM 59,913 in respect of 1999. The file does not disclose the amounts of the tax surcharges.
3. 40350_05.html -- European Court of Human Rights. The case of Kaura v. Finland. Application no. 40350/05. -- The applicant was born in 1966 and lives in Louko. The applicant had been unemployed since 13 November 1999 and had applied for unemployment benefit. On 28 September 2000 the Social Insurance Institution (Kansaneläkelaitos, Folkpensionsanstalten) decided to refuse benefit for the period from 4 September to 2 November 2000. According to section 9, subsection 1, of the Act on Unemployment Benefits (työttömyysturvalaki, lag om utkomstskydd för arbetslösa), if an unemployed person’s own behaviour has caused an employment contract not to be concluded, he or she has no right to unemployment benefit for two months. According to the Social Insurance Institution, the applicant’s own behaviour had meant that the intended employment contract, which was to last for more than five days, had not been concluded on 4 September 2000. As the applicant had not given a valid reason for not accepting the work offered to him, the benefit was refused. On 26 October 2000 the applicant appealed to the Unemployment Appeal Board (työttömyysturvalautakunta, arbetslöshetsnämnden), claiming that the Social Insurance Institution’s decision had been based on incorrect information. He claimed that he had spoken with the employer in September 2000 but that no starting date for the work had been agreed upon. He denied having at any point refused to accept the offered work. On the contrary, he claimed that in early September he had offered to take the job. In late September he had contacted the employer on two occasions but the employer had not yet decided who to employ. He claimed to have told the employer many times that he would be available for the job offered. The applicant requested that the Unemployment Appeal Board ask the employer to submit a written statement of his account of the facts. On 15 March 2001 the Unemployment Appeal Board rejected the appeal. It found that the applicant had not contacted the employer immediately after having heard that the employer had called him in early September and that, due to this delay, the employment contract could not be concluded. The unemployment benefit could thus be refused. It rejected the applicant’s request concerning the written statement as unnecessary. The applicant appealed to the Insurance Court (vakuutusoikeus, försäkringsdomstolen), reiterating his grounds and, in particular, pointing out that the case had not been adequately established as no written statement had been requested from the employer.
4. 40412_98.html -- European Court of Human Rights. The case of V. v. Finland. Application no. 40412/98. -- The applicant was born in 1976 and lives in Helsinki. At 6.14 p.m. on Friday 6 September 1996 the applicant received a telephone call from H., who inquired whether he had any cannabis in his possession. The applicant replied in the negative but added that in a couple of days, after having made some inquiries, he might know better. At 8.04 a.m. on Sunday 8 September 1996 R. and K. entered Finland in a car in which a quantity of drugs had been hidden. They drove through customs in Turku, south-west Finland, and left for Helsinki. At 8.37 a.m. M. called the applicant and requested him to go and get the drugs because he was unable to do so himself. The applicant accepted. At 1.48 p.m. and 8.11 p.m. H. called the applicant again. In the first call H. asked the applicant whether he now had any cannabis. The applicant answered that he could provide it later that day. In the second call it was agreed that H. would call the applicant again in order to arrange a meeting later the same evening. At 10.25 p.m. H. called the applicant and they agreed to meet in front of a restaurant twenty minutes after the call.
5. 40847_98.html -- European Court of Human Rights. The case of Tamminen v. Finland. Application no. 40847/98. -- In the liquidation proceedings the applicant filed his claim against the estate, claiming 1,106,715 Finnish marks (FIM; approximately EUR 186,000), plus interest, in respect of unpaid salaries and other claims related to his employment contract with FOFE. As the estate contested most of the applicant’s claims, the parties instituted civil proceedings against each other before the District Court (käräjäoikeus, tingsrätt) of Helsinki. The estate of FOFE argued that the applicant had not been an employee of the company but had rather held an executive position as he had owned all its shares, and insisted that the applicant be ordered to reimburse to the estate certain assets he had allegedly transferred from the company to himself before the company was dissolved. The claims made by the parties against each other were jointly considered by the District Court. It appears that at least one of the main issues in the civil proceedings was whether the applicant had been in an executive position in the company or not.
6. 41585_98.html -- European Court of Human Rights. The case of Lehtinen v. Finland (No. 2). Application no. 41585/98. -- The applicant was born in 1950 and lives in Järvenpää. The applicant’s home as well as the office premises of his various companies were searched on 7, 9 and 14 February 1995 and various materials were seized. The search warrants referred to an investigation into debtor’s dishonesty involving the company Lehtikarin Kirjapaino Oy as well as a book-keeping offence. Both offences were suspected to have been committed by the applicant between 5 June 1991 and 25 May 1994. On 15 February 1995 the public prosecutor questioned the applicant in connection with other criminal proceedings which were pending against the applicant before the District Court (käräjäoikeus, tingsrätten) of Tuusula in respect of acts allegedly committed in April 1992 relating to the company UYP-Sijoitus Oy (“U.”). On 27 April 1995 the estates of three wound-up companies, including U, reported an offence against the applicant for alleged offences of debtor’s dishonesty.
7. 41673_98.html -- European Court of Human Rights. The case of Bruncrona v. Finland. Application no. 41673/98. -- The late Olof Bruncrona’s heirs Marcus and Petter Bruncrona are Finnish nationals born in 1964 and 1967 and resident in Helsinki. The estate of Olof Bruncrona also acts as an applicant. The applicants are the owners of the real property Karsby (registered as number 1:44; “the Karsby mansion”) in the village of the same name, currently part of the city of Tammisaari (Ekenäs). The applicants claim ownership in the form of a right of permanent usufruct1 (in Finnish vakaa hallinta-oikeus; in Swedish ständig besittningsrätt) in respect of the property Bergö-Högholm (registered as number 1:0) in the village of the same name, also within the city limits of Tammisaari. The property comprises 165.4 hectares of water and some islands totalling 27.6 hectares. The islands originally belonged to the Swedish Crown (“Crown land”; kruununluontoinen maa, jord av krononatur). Around the early 18th century the then owners of the Karsby mansion (kartano, säteri) were afforded the right to make use of the Bergö-Högholm islands in return for an annual levy (sääntönäisvero, stadga or stadgad ränta). The levy was collected from 1723 onwards. That arrangement was maintained by a decision of the Senate of the then Grand Duchy on 9 May 1862.
8. 41673_98_B.html -- European Court of Human Rights. The case of Bruncrona v. Finland. Application no. 41673/98. -- Just satisfaction. The case originated in an application (no. 41673/98) against the Republic of Finland lodged with the European Commission of Human Rights (“the Commission”) on 5 May 1998 under former Article 25 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) by two Finnish nationals, Mr Marcus Bruncrona and Mr Petter Bruncrona, and the estate of Mr Olof Bruncrona (“the applicants”). In its principal judgment of 16 November 2004 (“the principal judgment”), the Court held that there had been a breach of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention. In particular, the Court found a violation on account of the procedure adopted in terminating the applicants’ proprietary interest in the Bergö-Högholm islands (Bruncrona v. Finland, no. 41673/98, 16 November 2004). Under Article 41 of the Convention the applicants had sought just satisfaction of several hundred thousand euros for damage sustained and costs and expenses. Since the question of the application of Article 41 of the Convention was not ready for decision, the Court reserved it and invited the Government and the applicants to submit, within six months, their written observations on that issue and, in particular, to notify the Court of any agreement they might reach (ibid., § 91 and point 3(c) of the operative provisions). The applicants and the Government each filed observations, whereupon they replied to each others’ observations.
9. 42059_98.html -- European Court of Human Rights. The case of Eerola v. Finland. Application no. 42059/98. -- Friendly settlement. The applicant was born in 1966 and lives in Turku. The applicant was charged with aggravated fraud and other offences before the District Court (käräjäoikeus, tingsrätten) of Porvoo which was composed of a presiding judge and three lay judges. The presiding judge changed after the first hearing. Altogether 20 lay judges participated in the eight hearings, four of them participating in two hearings and the others in one hearing each. When it rendered judgment the court was composed of one lay judge who had participated in one earlier hearing, whereas the two others were new. The applicant was convicted and sentenced to three years’ imprisonment. The applicant appealed to the Court of Appeal (hovioikeus, hovrätten) of Helsinki, requesting an oral hearing. The prosecutor and the co-defendants also requested an oral hearing. On 6 November 1997 the court rejected the hearing requests and upheld the District Court’s judgment. On 2 March 1998 the Supreme Court (korkein oikeus, högsta domstolen) refused the applicant leave to appeal but accepted the prosecutor’s request to that effect. In its judgment of 9 November 1999 the court increased the applicant’s sentence by three months.
10. 43151_02.html -- European Court of Human Rights. The case of Suuripää v. Finland. Application no. 43151/02. -- The applicant was born in 1958 and lives in Espoo. In 1992 he became a member of a police rally driving club called Handcuff Team Police Finland ry. In 1997, he was elected Chairman of the club. In May 1998, the applicant took part in a rally in Belgium with a car he had rented. As he was bringing the car back to Finland, the Customs Authorities took note of the fact that the registration of the car had been changed. They started a criminal inquiry into the matter. On 7 July 1998, the Office of the Prosecutor General (Valtakunnansyyttäjänvirasto, Riksåklagarämbetet) decided that a police investigation should be carried out into whether the applicant had been aware of the change in the registration. On the same date, the Office of the Prosecutor General decided that a police investigation should also be carried out into whether the applicant had accepted bribes while collecting funds for the rally club. In exchange for the money received, the donor's sticker appeared on the car. The present application concerns these proceedings. The police investigation of the bribery case commenced on 7 July 1998 and the applicant was arrested the next day. It appears that the applicant was informed about the suspicion of offences only when arrested. He was suspended from his post in the Police Department of the Ministry of the Interior (sisäasiainministeriön poliisiosasto, inrikesministeriets polisavdelning) from 8 July 1998 until 15 February 2001, that is, for a period of two years and seven months. The Ministry of the Interior withheld half of the applicant's salary for the periods from 9 July 1998 to 9 August 1998 and from 8 November 1998 to 14 February 2001. On 4 October 1999 R., a State Prosecutor (valtionsyyttäjä, statsåklagare), preferred charges against the applicant for a bribery violation under Chapter 40, Section 3, of the Penal Code (rikoslaki, strafflagen). Alternatively, the applicant was charged with negligent violation of official duty under Section 11 of the same Chapter. On 18 October 1999 the applicant was notified of the charge. Because he held the position of a referendary to the Council of State (Valtioneuvosto, Statsrådet), the case was to be tried in the Helsinki Court of Appeal (hovioikeus, hovrätten). Following a plea by the applicant challenging the impartiality of the State Prosecutor, the Court of Appeal held two oral hearings on 19 and 25 November 1999 after which it held, in a decision given on 29 November 1999, that the State Prosecutor was disqualified. The applicant had claimed that the investigation had started after receipt of a letter of denunciation from a police officer, and that the prosecutor had made this letter disappear in order not to have to show it to the defence. The Court of Appeal did not confirm any such action on the part of the prosecutor, but nevertheless held that, due to these issues, the impartiality of the prosecutor might appear to be undermined and he was therefore disqualified.
11. 43160_98.html -- European Court of Human Rights. The case of Toive Lehtinen v. Finland. Application no. 43160/98. -- The applicant was born in 1944 and lives in Tampere. He was a principal partner in a construction company, Toprakenne Ky Toive Lehtinen, which was wound-up in 1991. On 6 July 1992 the Tampere District Court (raastuvanoikeus, rådstuvurätten; later käräjäoikeus, tingsrätten) issued a judgment in bankruptcy proceedings involving the applicant's company. Some creditors' claims were reserved for final determination in civil proceedings which had been initiated before the District Court by companies A.N.K., A.H.K. and A.K. On 2 September 1992 the applicant was summoned. On an unspecified date the applicant submitted that he also had monetary claims against the plaintiffs. The first hearing was held on 12 October 1992. Having held ten hearings, the District Court issued three judgments on 25 November 1994. It ordered the wound-up estate of the applicant's company to pay some 400,000 Finnish marks (FIM, about 67,275 euros (EUR)) to company A.H.K. and some FIM 180,000 (about EUR 30,274) to company A.K. It dismissed A.N.K.'s claim as unfounded. It also declared the applicant's claims inadmissible. On 23 December 1994 the applicant appealed to the Turku Court of Appeal (hovioikeus, hovrätten), requesting that the cases be remitted to the District Court for re-examination together with the applicant's counter-claims, which had been remitted to it on 15 December 1994 by the Court of Appeal (see paragraph 20 below). Alternatively, he requested an oral hearing. In his later submission of 20 May 1996 he also challenged the impartiality of one of the District Court judges. The Court of Appeal issued three judgments on 28 November 1996. It declined to return the cases to the District Court, noting that the claims against the estate of the applicant's wound-up company had been examined by the District Court prior to the Court of Appeal's decision to remit his and the estate's counter-claims with a view to joining them to the original proceedings. The Court of Appeal also rejected the applicant's request for an oral hearing and his complaint about alleged bias as being manifestly ill-founded. On 3 October 1997 the Supreme Court refused the applicant leave to appeal.
12. 43349_05.html -- European Court of Human Rights. The case of Jokitaipale and Others v. Finland. Application no. 43349/05. -- The applicants were born in 1951, 1963 and 1969 respectively and live in Helsinki. The applicant company is based in Helsinki. The first applicant is the editor-in-chief and the second and third applicants are journalists in the nationwide 7 päivää magazine which is published by the applicant company. 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. 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 23 January, 6 February and 13 March 1997 the 7 päivää magazine published in total four articles about A. and B. Prior to these articles, the identity of B. had been revealed and her picture had been published in the media. The first article published on 23 January 1997 was entitled “B. broke up A.'s marriage” and it concerned A.'s marriage and his relationship with B. The article, which covered a whole double page spread, mainly concerned A.'s marriage and it included an interview with his wife. It also mentioned B. by name as well as her age, the name of her workplace, her family relationships and her relationship with A. Moreover, the changes in her career and assignments after the incident of 4 December 1996 which led to the arrest of A., the incident itself as well as the subsequent criminal proceedings and convictions of A. and B. were mentioned in the article. The caption of the article stated that “A.'s marital problems began eight years ago when B. entered his life”. The article also included pictures of A. and B. as well as of A.'s wife and children. Linked to this article there was, in the same issue, a news clip which was entitled “B. danced samba without A.”. It contained only a few lines but B.'s name, together with her picture, and the fact that she was convicted for having assaulted A.'s son were mentioned in the clip. Both items were written by the third applicant and approved by the first applicant. A. and B.'s pictures and statements concerning them were also published on the cover of the magazine. In the next two articles published on 6 February 1997 B.'s name, career, family relationships and her relationship with A. were mentioned together with pictures of her. The articles were written by a journalist, who has lodged a separate application with the Court (see Soila v. Finland, no. 6806/06, 6 April 2010), and approved by the first applicant.
13. 43803_98.html -- European Court of Human Rights. The case of Eskelinen and Others v. Finland. Application no. 43803/98. -- The applicants were born in 1943, 1956, 1958 and 1944 respectively and live in Lappeenranta. A Finnish company called Hackmann Sisustus Oy (hereinafter “HCS”) and an Estonian company called Viisnurkka A/S (hereinafter “VIS”) agreed that they would gradually switch production of coated decorative panels known as “Halltex-panels” from Finland to the VIS factory in Estonia, so that HCS would eventually become responsible for their marketing only. HCS had a monopoly over Halltex-panels in Finland. At the beginning of 1993 HCS and VIS signed another contract, according to which HCS would buy wind-block panels from VIS. The cooperation between the two companies covered, as a result, all the marketing rights of VIS products in Finland, Sweden and west-European countries. HCS, which was still producing Halltex-panels of its own, later allegedly ignored the above-mentioned cooperation contracts, causing VIS financial difficulties. VIS considered that the agreements had been terminated and decided to build its own production line to make coated decorative panels. The production line was ordered through Oy Finnhallex Ltd, a Finnish company apparently owned by the first, second and fourth applicants, from a company called Lappeenrannan Konemetalli Oy, owned by the third applicant.
14. 45027_98.html -- European Court of Human Rights. The case of Narinen v. Finland. Application no. 45027/98. -- The applicant was born in 1957 and lives in Klaukkala. The applicant was declared bankrupt on 2 September 1993 by the District Court (kihlakunnanoikeus, häradsrätten) of Hyvinkää. J., a lawyer practising in Helsinki, was appointed by a court order to act as the official receiver to his estate. By a written notice, dated 16 September 1993, J. requested the postal service to send all the mail addressed to the applicant to the law office of J. The day before, on 15 September 1993, a meeting was held between the debtor, i.e. the applicant, and the official receiver in the law office of J. According to the Government, it was agreed that the applicant’s mail be transferred to the office and handled so that the official mail was opened, whereas the private mail was put aside to be further transmitted to the applicant. According to the applicant, no such agreement was reached. The applicant contacted a lawyer at the postal service who informed him that the personal mail of a person declared bankrupt should not be transferred to the official receiver. The applicant received his mail from 23 September 1993 onwards. While the mail was being transferred to the law office (between 16 and 23 September 2003), J. received and opened a letter sent by an insurance company and addressed to the applicant. The letter was sent to the applicant in an official envelope of the company and signed by the representative of the company’s legal department. Apparently the letter concerned a valuation of an apartment owned by the applicant’s ex-wife.
15. 45029_98.html -- European Court of Human Rights. The case of Lomaseita Oy and Others v. Finland. Application no. 45029/98. -- The first and the second applicant, Lomaseita Oy and CPT Data Oy, are limited liability companies. The third applicant, Mrs Kaisaleena Laaksonen was born in 1947 and lives in Espoo. In 1987, the third applicant founded a company called CPT Informations Systems Oy (“CPT IS” hereinafter) together with two others. On 20 October 1993 the company was ordered to be wound-up. The official receiver of the estate of CPT IS, P., a lawyer practising in Helsinki and a member of the Finnish Bar Association, instituted civil proceedings against the third applicant and the applicant companies, which are at least partly owned by the third applicant. In the proceedings before the District Court of Espoo (käräjäoikeus, tingsrätten), P. requested that assets allegedly transferred from CPT IS to the applicants before the winding-up order was issued be returned to its estate.
16. 45130_06.html -- European Court of Human Rights. The case of Ruokanen and Others v. Finland. Application no. 45130/06. -- The first and second applicants were born in 1951 and 1967 and live in Helsinki and Tampere respectively. The applicant company is based in Helsinki. The first applicant is the editor-in-chief of the applicant company and the second applicant is a journalist. On 6 September 2000 a student was allegedly raped at a party which was held to celebrate a local baseball team's victory in the Finnish championship. On 11 May 2001 the applicant company published an article in the magazine Suomen Kuvalehti about this incident entitled “A student raped at the baseball party”. The content of the article was the following: “A girl studying in K. [name of the city] was raped at the party to celebrate the victory of K.P. [name of the team] last September. Several players of the team participated in the rape. The folk high school of K. confirms that their student was a victim of rape at the party to celebrate the victory of K.P. held on 6 September 2000. The girl had been invited by the gold-medal team to attend “an after party” in a hotel in K. According to the information received by Suomen Kuvalehti, the rapist was one of the players of the team but there were also other players in the hotel room, some of them holding the victim, some of them watching. The rape was interrupted when one of the players of the team entered the room and ordered the others to stop the rape.
17. 45618_04.html -- European Court of Human Rights. The case of Toive Lehtinen v. Finland (no. 2). Application no. 45618/04. -- The applicant was born in 1944 and lives in Tampere. He was the principal partner in a construction company, Toprakenne Ky Toive Lehtinen (limited partnership), which was wound-up in 1991. On 8 May 1995 the SSP Bank (hereinafter “SSP”) initiated civil proceedings to enforce various debts against the applicant. The applicant was summoned on 17 May 1995. Subsequently the applicant filed a counter-claim, which was eventually joined to the original claim on 5 January 1996. Between 4 December 1995 and 28 May 1998 a total of ten preparatory hearings and three main hearings were organised. During the same period the District Court issued six partial decisions. The decisions concerned requests to grant the applicant free legal aid, to dismiss the opposing legal counsel, to declare the trial material classified, to declare one claim inadmissible, to relieve the applicant’s counsel of his tasks and to order the claimant to provide certain documents as evidence. On 24 June 1998 the District Court gave its judgment, ordering the applicant to pay some 1,487,603 euros (EUR) with interest to SSP and dismissing all of the applicant’s counter-claims. In his appeal the applicant challenged the judgment in its entirety as well as the earlier decisions of the District Court not to dismiss the opposing counsel and the refusal to order the claimant to produce certain documents as evidence. He requested that the case be remitted to the District Court and that an oral hearing be held before the Court of Appeal (hovioikeus, hovrätten) with regard to the missing documents or – if the case was not remitted – with regard to the entire case. He further requested that he be exempted from paying SSP’s legal fees or at least the value-added tax (VAT) on the fees. He also requested reimbursement of his own legal fees. On 30 November 1999 the Court of Appeal remitted the case to the District Court, ordering SSP to provide three specified documents (minutes from various board meetings) at the hearing before the District Court and allowing the applicant to provide some additional evidence which had previously been refused by the District Court. The proceedings became pending before the District Court on 27 March 2000. Between 31 May 2000 and 26 March 2001 a total of three preparatory hearings and five main hearings were organised. On 6 September 2000 the District Court ordered SSP to provide various additional documents, including the above-mentioned ones. All but two of the requested documents were provided on 30 October 2000. The missing documents were no longer in the possession of SSP or they had not been found. On 5 June 2001 the District Court decided on the case for the second time, finding that the examination of the previously presented evidence, the new evidence and the new hearing of all the witnesses did not give rise to any new conclusions. The judgment was essentially the same as the one given in the first set of proceedings. In his appeal the applicant requested that the judgment be quashed, that an oral hearing be held, and that he be exempted from paying SSP’s legal fees or at least the VAT thereon. He also requested reimbursement of his own legal fees. In the addendum to his appeal he requested the Court of Appeal to order the missing documents to be provided and to remit the case again to the District Court since the judgment did not specify the new evidence nor address the issue of changed witness statements. He also claimed that the judge had been biased.
18. 45830_99.html -- European Court of Human Rights. The case of Juha Nuutinen v. Finland. Application no. 45830/99. -- The applicant was born in 1950 and lives in Turku. On 7 September 1995 the public prosecutor charged the applicant and the managing director of company X before the District Court (käräjäoikeus, tingsrätten) with two counts of aggravated tax fraud and two counts of tax fraud, as they had allegedly produced false invoices to the Turku County Tax Office (lääninverovirasto, länsskatteverket). They were also charged with an accounting offence (count 9), as they had allegedly entered false data in the accounts of X. The prosecutor claimed that the applicant was responsible for the offences together with the managing director as, even though he did not have an official status in the management of the company, he had in fact participated in its management. In the indictment dated 12 June 1995, count 1, for example, read as follows: “Aggravated tax fraud. On 23 November 1993 [the managing director] and [the applicant] together, [the former] as the managing director of [company X] and chairman of the board of directors and [the latter] as a person who was de facto responsible for the management of the company, submitted the company's application for a VAT refund in the amount of FIM 342,760 [some EUR 57,000] as regards November 1993 to the County Tax Office of Turku. The application stated that [company Y] had sold electrical relays to [company X] for FIM 1,900,000 [some EUR 319,000] and the latter company had sold the said products further to an Estonian company for FIM 1,680,000 [EUR 282,000]. The invoice relating to the sales transaction between [company X] and [company Y] was fabricated. By submitting such false information which affected the amount of taxes to the authorities for the purposes of taxation, [the managing director] and [the applicant] have attempted to evade taxes.
19. 45952_08.html -- European Court of Human Rights. The case of Nousiainen v. Finland. Application no. 45952/08. -- The applicants were born in 1931 and 1958 and live in Oulu and Espoo respectively. The applicants are father and son. On 17 June 2000 they were involved in an incident in which the first applicant was attacked by a group of men. The second applicant went to his rescue. They both sustained injuries and the second applicant's camera and mobile phone were broken. The applicants filed a criminal complaint with the police on that same date. On the following day, one of the alleged attackers filed a criminal complaint against the second applicant alleging that he had kicked and hit him during the incident. On 19 June 2000 the police questioned the second applicant as an injured party. He then informed the police that he would make a claim for damages in the court proceedings. At the end of the interview the police took a brief statement from the second applicant in respect of the criminal complaint filed against him. He did not contest the alleged conduct but maintained that it had been justified. On 6 July 2000 the police questioned the first applicant as an injured party. He also informed the police about his intention to make a claim for damages in the court proceedings. On 19 March 2003 the second applicant was again questioned by the police. He was first heard as a suspect and then as a victim. On 8 July 2003 the public prosecutor filed an application for a summons with the Iisalmi District Court (käräjäoikeus, tingsrätten). Charges were brought against two persons, L. and R., for robbery. R. was also charged with having physically assaulted the second applicant. The second applicant, for his part, was charged with having physically assaulted L. The applicants later joined the charges as far as they were the alleged victims.
20. 45981_08.html -- European Court of Human Rights. -- No data available at the moment.
21. 46601_99.html -- European Court of Human Rights. The case of M.S. v. Finland. Application no. 46601/99. -- The applicant was born in 1955 and currently lives in Gambia. The applicant was convicted of aggravated sexual assault on his then 15 year-old stepdaughter, by a judgment of the District Court (käräjäoikeus, tingsrätten) of Hyvinkää issued on 27 September 1996. He was sentenced to eleven months’ imprisonment and ordered to pay compensation amounting to 30,000 Finnish Marks (FIM; 5,045 euros (EUR)) to the complainant. The case was heard in camera before the District Court and the court documents were ordered to be kept secret until 27 September 2006. The alleged offence (principally forced oral sex) had taken place repeatedly in the family home over a period of seven weeks beginning on 26 December 1994. The pre-trial investigation of the alleged offence began when the complainant, i.e. the applicant’s stepdaughter, reported it to the police on 14 August 1996. Earlier the same month, she had mentioned the alleged offence on separate occasions to two confidantes.
22. 46602_99.html -- European Court of Human Rights. --
23. 47221_99.html -- European Court of Human Rights. The case of Pabla Ky v. Finland. Application no. 47221/99. -- The applicant is a limited partnership company founded in 1986 and based in Helsinki. The applicant company, which was running a restaurant in Helsinki, rented the restaurant premises from an insurance company, Keskinäinen Henkivakuutusyhtiö Suomi (KHS). In 1994 it was offered the opportunity to rent more premises, which would be renovated to be suitable for restaurant use. When the renovation was finished, the applicant company found that there were excessive toilet facilities and that part of the planned restaurant facilities were missing, especially those planned to be built in the cellar. The applicant company paid 251,000 Finnish marks (approximately 42,200 euros) for the renovation expenses and the monthly rent was raised considerably. The amended rent contract had been signed before the extension work commenced. In 1997 the applicant company instituted civil proceedings against KHS before a Division of the Helsinki District Court (käräjäoikeus, tingsrätt) known as “the Housing Court” (asunto-oikeus, bostadsdomstolen). The applicant company claimed that there had been a breach of the rent contract, as the newly renovated facilities did not correspond to the original plan, on the basis of which the applicant company had signed the amended rent contract. KHS disagreed with the applicant company, arguing that even though there had originally been a plan to build restaurant facilities in the cellar, it had later proved to be impossible to build such an extension and that the applicant company had been aware of this before signing the contract (see paragraph 19 below). On 17 September 1997 the Housing Court found in favour of the insurance company, rejecting the applicant company's action for compensation in accordance with the Act on Commercial Leases.
24. 47628_06.html -- European Court of Human Rights. The case of Kukkonen v. Finland (no. 2). Application no. 47628/06. -- The applicant was born in 1967 and lives in Helsinki. On 30 January 1994 the applicant had an accident at work. The insurance company paid him an occupational injury pension until 31 May 1996. The applicant applied to have the pension continued from 1 June 1996 onwards. On 8 May 1996 the insurance company rejected his application finding that the applicant’s work capacity had been reduced by less than 10%. It further held that the applicant’s inability to return to his previous profession as a carpenter was not the result of the injury sustained during the accident, but of pains which had not been caused by the accident. In June 1996 the applicant appealed to the Accident Board (tapaturmalautakunta, olycksfallsnämnden), repeating his requests. He relied on a medical opinion dated 13 May 1996 in which he was found to be unfit for carpentry work. He also submitted further medical opinions. The Board rejected his appeal on 13 March 1997. It ruled, inter alia, that he was incapable of full-time carpentry work. However, the applicant’s pains were not caused by the accident and therefore could not be compensated under the Employment Accidents Act. The applicant, represented by a lawyer, appealed to the Insurance Court (vakuutusoikeus, försäkringsdomstolen) submitting further evidence. On 17 November 1998 the court rejected the bulk of his appeal. However, it modified the Accident Board’s decision so as to grant the applicant a 100% occupational injury pension for the period from 20 May to 19 June 1997, during which the applicant had participated in a work-testing project. The case was referred back to the insurance company for further measures. On acquainting himself with his case file at the office of the Insurance Court’s registry, he found three documents which he claimed had not been communicated to him. In his application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court (korkein oikeus, högsta domstolen) he claimed, inter alia, that he had not been sent all the documents relevant to his case. The Supreme Court refused the applicant leave to appeal on 21 October 1999. On 27 March 2000 the applicant, using an extraordinary procedure, requested the Supreme Court to annul its decision and that of the Insurance Court. He argued that the latter court had failed to send him documents. On 13 November 2003 the Supreme Court rejected his application. It found that the non-communicated documents related to decision-making within the insurance company and that the documents had not been submitted to the court in connection with the parties’ submissions or relied on by the court in reaching its decision. On 27 March 2000 the applicant lodged an application (no. 57793/00) with the European Court against Finland. He alleged, in particular, that he had been denied a fair hearing within the meaning of Article 6 of the Convention on account of the failure to provide him with an opportunity to comment on some documents which had been included in his case file. On 7 June 2007 the Court held unanimously that there had been no violation of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention. Meanwhile, the case was pending before the insurance company. On 7 February 2000 the insurance company decided that the new medical evidence submitted was not capable of changing the conclusions of the Accident Board in its decision of 13 March 1997. The insurance company found that, even though the applicant was incapable of full-time carpentry work, he was capable of other work.
25. 48339_99.html -- European Court of Human Rights, The case of Kangasluoma v. Finland. Application no. 48339/99. -- The applicant was born in 1949 and lives in Lapua. The applicant was a managing director in company X until it went into liquidation, on 8 May 1990, before the District Court (kihlakunnanoikeus, häradsrätt) of Isokyrö. The creditor withdrew the application later and the liquidation proceedings were terminated on 28 May 1990, only to be restarted on 15 August 1990. In December 1990 the police started interrogating the applicant relating to the business activities and accounts of X. In 1991 the Central Criminal Police (keskusrikospoliisi, centralkriminalpolisen) conducted several searches of the applicant’s and X’s premises in Seinäjoki, Isokyrö and Nurmo. The police reports, resulting from the investigations, were dated 30 May 1991, 26 April 1993 and 7 July 1993. In respect of the third report the police carried out a further investigation which was terminated on 25 July 1994. The applicant was not taken into police custody during the criminal investigations or the subsequent criminal proceedings against him. On 15 June 1994 the applicant was charged on eleven counts with offences, including, inter alia, aggravated tax fraud. The District Court held oral hearings on 7 September 1994, 8 December 1994, 22 February 1995, 20 April 1995 and 31 August 1995. The hearing was each time adjourned on the Prosecutor’s request. On 31 August 1995, the District Court convicted the applicant as charged and sentenced him to two years’ imprisonment. Two other persons were also accused and convicted of one offence each.
26. 48907_99.html -- European Court of Human Rights. The case of Ahtinen v. Finland. Application no. 48907/99. -- The applicant was born in 1949 and lives in Rovaniemi. He was employed by the Evangelical Lutheran Church as a parish priest in the parish of Rovaniemi from 1 January 1988 until 31 October 1998. On 12 May 1998 the Cathedral Chapter (tuomiokapituli, domkapitlet) issued him with a warning, which was upheld by the Supreme Administrative Court on an unspecified date. On 15 September 1998 the Cathedral Chapter decided to transfer the applicant to the parish of Keminmaa, which is situated more than 100 kilometres from his home in Rovaniemi. He did not consent to the transfer. In its decision, the Cathedral Chapter reasoned as follows (translation from Finnish): “The post of parish priest in the parish of Keminmaa is open ... and therefore it is for the Cathedral Chapter to find a suitable person for the post. It has come to the Cathedral Chapter’s knowledge that the parish priest of the parish of Rovaniemi, Seppo Ahtinen, has stated that he considers himself unable to discharge all his duties. Therefore, the Cathedral Chapter has decided to discontinue Seppo Ahtinen’s assignment to his current post and give him a new assignment as parish priest in the parish of Keminmaa. The Cathedral Chapter has heard the Keminmaa Church Council (kirkkoneuvosto, kyrkorådet) and Seppo Ahtinen. The Church Council has given a positive statement, whereas Seppo Ahtinen has announced that he will not accept a transfer and that he considers that there are no legal grounds for a transfer.
27. 48999_99.html -- European Court of Human Rights. The case of Ivanoff v. Finland. Application no. 48999/99. -- Friendly Settlement. The applicant was born in 1942 and lives in Helsinki. The applicant ran a snack bar together with his wife until 20 December 1993 when it was damaged by a fire. On 13 October 1997 the Kotka District Court (käräjäoikeus, tingsrätten) convicted him of aggravated vandalism and aggravated fraud as he was found to have set the snack bar on fire and to have claimed and received compensation from an insurance company. He was sentenced to one year’s suspended imprisonment. Both the applicant and the public prosecutor appealed to the Kouvola Court of Appeal (hovioikeus, hovrätten). The applicant requested an oral hearing. He also sought an order for an expert opinion on the reasons why the snack bar had caught fire.
28. 49684_99.html -- European Court of Human Rights. The case of Hirvisaari v. Finland. Application no. 49684/99. -- On 14 February 1992 the pension fund of the applicant’s employer granted the applicant a full temporary disability pension as from 1 March 1992 until 30 June 1992. Thereafter the period of full pension was prolonged several times. On 13 June 1997 the pension fund reviewed its previous decision and changed the applicant’s pension into a partial one for an indefinite period beginning on 1 June 1997. The pension fund reasoned its decision by observing that, according to the documents submitted to the pension fund, the applicant’s capability to work could no longer be considered reduced to such an extent as entitling him to a full disability pension. It was also noted that the applicant could be expected to work at least part-time. The applicant appealed to the Pension Board, which on 4 March 1998 rejected the appeal.

European Court of Human Rights judgments and decisions -- Finland application no. 40000..49999