YLE: Finnish man suspected of serial sexual abuse of more than 400 Thai boys
Police discovered incriminating diary in search of home
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The biggest-ever offence in Finnish criminal history, measured in terms of the number of victims, has been revealed in the Kymi Valley region of South-Eastern Finland. According to the Monday morning radio news of the Finnish Broadcasting company YLE, a 43-year-old Finnish man is to go on trial charged with the sexual abuse of as many as 445 young boys in Thailand.
Detective Chief Inspector Lars Henriksson of the National Bureau of Investigation, Finland's central criminal police, told the morning radio news that in the course of a raid on the man's home a diary had been discovered that chronicled all the paedophile liaisons that the man had had in previous visits to Thailand.
The entries began from 1989 and detailed 25 visits to the country and 445 separate cases. The boys in question were predominantly 12 to 13 years old. Police also took away a quantity of pornographic material that the man had gathered during his trips.
Police apprehended the man in January, on his return from another trip to Thailand.
Apparently the NBI investigators had got on the trail of the suspected man through exchanges of information provided by international colleagues. Lars Henriksson also told the Finnish News Agency STT that the matter came to light in connection with a paedophile network's being exposed in Belgium.
The preliminary case against the man is being examined by the Office of the State Prosecutor-General, more specifically by the Office's specialist prosecutor on offences against women and minors, Leading District Prosecutor Hannele Selin-Hakala.
The case will presumably come to trial in the Kouvola District Court when the prosecutor has had time to peruse all the evidence. Police consider the discovery of the diary to be a particularly weighty item.
There is a great deal of additional recorded material of the alleged paedophile's activities. According to reports from the police passed to YLE, it is not believed, however, that the man was part of a wider Finnish or international ring, but that he acted independently.
Aggravated sexual abuse of a minor carries a maximum sentence of ten years' imprisonment.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 25.4.2005 - TODAY |
 YLE: Finnish man suspected of serial sexual abuse of more than 400 Thai boys |
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