MP Paavo Arhinmäki on trial over ASEM riot

Press photographer accuses police of censorship

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Member of Parliament Paavo Arhinmki (Left Alliance) denies charges of resisting police during the Smash ASEM riot in September last year. Also pleading not guilty to the charges was Markus Pentikäinen, a photographer for the weekly news magazine Suomen Kuvalehti, who said that the 18 hours that he was held by police amounted to a violation of freedom of the press.
     
The events linked with the disturbances during a demonstration against the Asia-Europe summit held in Helsinki were the topic of the continuing trial at Helsinki District Court. In addition to Arhinmäki and Pentikäinen, about 40 other people face charges of resisting police.
      Prosecutors say that the suspects failed to obey calls by police to move away.
      Arhinmäki denies hearing the police give him any orders. He was detained at the Old Student House in the centre of Helsinki while taking photographs of the police.
      "Apparently some misunderstanding", the MP said during a break in the proceedings, as he commented on the charges. He said that there is no indication in the preliminary investigation material of the police to suggest that he had been ordered to move.
     
Photographer Markus Pentikäinen deliberately stayed within an area sealed off by the police, even though police had urged people to leave. He said that the readers had the right to know what was happening in front of the Museum of Contemporary Art.
      Pentikäinen feels that the case involves basic questions of freedom of the press.
      He says that by holding him for 18 hours, and not telling Suomen Kuvalehti where their photographer was, the police committed an act of pre-emptive censorship.
      Pentikäinen also emphasised that he made it quite clear to the police that he was doing his job as a press photographer.
      The prosecutor wants both Arhinmäki and Pentikäinen to be fined.
     
A total of 86 people face charges in connection with the events surrounding the disturbance. Because of the large number of defendants, the process is being divided into different parts, partly according to the alleged crimes involved.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Articles on ASEM in Helsinki, September 2006 (12.9.2006)
  86 face trial over Smash ASEM riot (24.5.2007)
  Some police officers suspected of crimes committed during Smash ASEM demonstration still unidentified (8.5.2007)

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