VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHHE #0563/01 3471355
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 121355Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY HELSINKI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4704
INFO RUEHCP/AMEMBASSY COPENHAGEN 4135
RHEFHLC/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS HELSINKI 000563 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EUR/NB 
COPENHAGEN FOR DHS/ICE/JMACDOWELL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM KTIP ELAB SOCI FI
SUBJECT: FINLAND: ELEVATING TRAFFICKING PROSECUTION 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY.  The Finnish government has been 
proactively pursuing trafficking cases and opportunities to 
raise public awareness about trafficking.  A Finnish court 
recently handed down prison sentences to five Finns for a 
trafficking case involving a single Finnish woman.  Finnish 
authorities specifically sought to elevate the prosecutions 
to aggravated trafficking offenses, given the gravity of the 
case.  On December 10 Ambassador Barrett and ICE Deputy 
Director Michael E. Feinberg met with Finnish authorities to 
mark the launch of a new public service announcement intended 
to raise awareness about trafficking in Finland.  Finnish 
authorities requested use of the US-created video after 
viewing it at a previous conference.  This is the first time 
ICE has shared the video with another country. END SUMMARY. 
 
Finnish authorities press trafficking case 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶2. (U) On December 9 the Finnish media reported on prison 
sentences imposed on three men and two women for human 
trafficking and fraud.  The crimes occurred in Kotka, a small 
city in southeastern Finland.  According to press reports, 
last summer the five - all from Kotka - held an 18-year-old 
woman from Kotka for a week, during which they physically 
assaulted her and forced her to provide sexual services.  The 
group also took out loans in the victim's name.  The 
sentences ranged from two to five-and-one-half years; the 
defendants were also ordered to pay the victim approximately 
15,000 euros for pain and suffering. The district prosecutor 
reportedly described the trafficking case as unusual, given 
that the victim and the perpetrators knew each other and all 
events occurred within Finland's borders. 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  In a December 10 conversation about the case with 
PolAsst, Finnish District Judge Arto Helenius pointed out 
that Finnish law contains no requirement that trafficking be 
linked to crossing borders, nor that it involve immigrants. 
He commented that aggravated human trafficking is considered 
far more serious within the Finnish legal system than cases 
of forced labor or sexual exploitation, and that the Kotka 
case was raised to a trafficking charge because: 
 
(1) The case involved the threat and use of severe physical 
violence (including hitting, strangling and air pellet gun 
shots); 
 
(2) The case involved a strong denial of physical freedom; 
 
(3) The defendants looted the victim's personal assets and 
property, including social welfare payments; 
 
(4) The defendants pimped and forced the victim to provide 
sexual services, including 200 "announcements" and five 
attempts to set up meetings (receiving payment three times); 
and 
 
(5) The defendants based their crimes on a fictitious 6,000 
euro debt with the victim, which prosecution considered a 
conspiracy to commit the crimes. 
 
¶4. (SBU) In a December 10 conversation with PolOff, Jukka 
Martikainen of the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation 
(NBI) sid that NBI applied pressure on the local authorities 
to pursue the case under the trafficking statute, due to its 
gravity.  Martikainen also provided an NBI press release that 
states that so far all trafficking convictions in Finland 
have been related to sexual abuse in pandering. (NOTE: The 
press release includes a description of what the NBI 
considers to be trafficking in human beings:  sexual abuse in 
a form which resembles a pandering offense, forced labor and 
other types of force into demeaning circumstances, and trade 
in bodily organs for financial gain.  They describe the 
essential elements of the statutory definition to be the 
victim's induction into something such as prostitution or 
abuse of the victim through a dependent or insecure state 
where they are not allowed to exercise free will. END NOTE.) 
 
NBI launches public service announcement 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (U) On December 10 NBI launched a video prepared in 
cooperation with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement 
to advertise a helpline/hotline number for obtaining 
information about and reporting alleged instances of 
trafficking.  Earlier this year Martikainen was shown the ICE 
video and sought to use it in Finland; this is the first time 
that ICE has cooperated with another country and permitted 
use of the video, which shows images of trafficking victims 
and now provides captions in Finnish. Ambassador Barrett and 
ICE Deputy Director Feinberg met NBI representatives at 
Embassy Helsinki on December 10 to express appreciation for 
the Finns' cooperation on combating trafficking. 
 
BARRETT