Former President Ahtisaari testifies in Alpo Rusi case

Court proceedings coming to a close on Wednesday - Rusi claiming substantial damages

Alpo Rusi

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Former President Martti Ahtisaari is calling on the Security Police (SUPO) to admit to the mistakes that it made in connection with the espionage investigation into political scientist Alpo Rusi.
      Ahtisaari testified on Tuesday in Helsinki District Court, where Rusi is pressing his case against the state. Ahtisaari said in the foyer of the court that mistakes "appear to have been made", and that it would be best for SUPO to own up to them.
      "I respect the activities of SUPO and I have worked with them a good deal... Hopefully this matter will soon be put behind us", Ahtisaari commented after his testimony in the trial, where Rusi is seeking damages for the unfounded investigation into possible links between Rusi and the East German espionage agency Stasi.
     
     
In court, Ahtisaari said that he had heard about the suspicions against Rusi in February 2002. SUPO chief Seppo Nevala informed the former President, who was surprised by the allegations.
      Rusi was Ahtisaari's aide almost throughout his entire presidency from 1994-2000. Rusi himself was asked to come to SUPO for questioning a few months later - on the second Sunday in May, 2002.
      Ahtisaari stated that he did not take any detailed notes about his contact with Nevala. Ahtisaari read out a few notations that he had made on a piece of paper.
      The notes included comments such as "recruitment 1969" and "took the bait 1976". In addition, the paper contained a mention of the Foreign Ministry's reports, and of an internal memo from the Finnish Business and Policy Forum, and a written note that the statute of limitations had run out.
     
The first reference meant that Stasi had drawn up a file card on Alpo Rusi in 1969. The second notation is believed to be linked with the fact that SUPO suspected that at around this time the Soviet intelligence agency, the KGB, had been given responsibility over Alpo Rusi and his brother Jukka Rusi.
      The note that the crime was too old to merit prosecution raised a good deal of interest in court. Rusi's lawyers used this to suggest that Nevala knew that he was starting an investigation into an obsolete case.
      "I believe that it was purely a recognition of what the law says in these matters, because they have time limits. Perhaps it was not with the content of the case, but rather the fact that if there had been a crime, it would have been obsolete, according to this", Ahtisaari said outside the courtroom.
      Ahtisaari said in court that he had been surprised, because he and Rusi had been colleagues for a long time.
     
The Security Police refused to admit to any mistakes on Tuesday, although it was called upon to do so by Ahtisaari.
      SUPO head of counterespionage Harri Sarvanto said that former Stasi officer Peter Keller had told them about the links between the code XV/11/69 and Rusi.
      Because of this, the Security Police launched a preliminary investigation into Rusi in 2002, on suspicion that he had committed aggravated espionage on behalf of East Germany.
      Rusi is now demanding compensation from the state of Finland for mental suffering and monetary losses.
      The case ends today with summing up from the legal counsel of both parties.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  State Prosecutor: no evidence of aggravated espionage in Rusi case (12.6.2003)
  Rusi lawyers say Security Police failed in basic task (21.8.2007)
  Supreme Police Command finds no fault with Security Police procedures in Stasi matter (27.8.2007)
  COMMENTARY: Security Police stretch legal room to manoeuvre to extreme (28.8.2007)

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