Espoo District Court has given a 43-year-old man a life sentence for a murder which took place in December 1987.
An evaluation of mental competence found that Hannu Rissanen was of sound mind when he committed the crime.
Already in March of this year the court found that Rissanen had actually committed the act, but a final verdict and sentencing was put off pending his mental examination.
Rissanen was found guilty of brutally killing Raija Muukkonen in the office building of her workplace at an Espoo stone processing plant. The killing took place in connection with the theft of a cash box.
Muukkonen was first hit on the head with a blunt object, and then strangled with an electric cord. She had also suffered injuries near her eyes.
Rissanen had been a suspect in the killing before, but had not been charged with the crime until recently.
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) had no new material evidence, but the available evidence was compiled in a new manner.
Rissanen had confessed to the killing on numerous occasions over the years, although he said that the admissions were not valid.
He also knew details of the act that the court felt that he could not have known if he had not been there.
Rissanen said that he had effectively framed himself. He said that he learned about the killing in the crime publication Alibi, and from a cellmate whom he met in prison, whom he said was the real killer.
