Police catch escaped triple murderer Juha Valjakkala in Helsinki

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Police arrested escaped triple murderer Juha Valjakkala at his private home in the Maunula district of Helsinki at 7:30 Thursday evening. Valjakkala, who had escaped from the Hamina Work Colony run by the Finnish Prison Service in the south coast city of Hamina on Monday night, did not put up any resistance when he was arrested.
      Police were prepared for possible violence on Valjakkala’s part; the Karhu special operations unit, which is specially trained for hostage and siege situations and other difficult missions, was deployed for the arrest.
      The team had to break the door of the apartment where Valjakkala was holed up, because he refused to open it. However, the arrest itself went smoothly.
     
In addition to Valjakkala there was a woman about 40 years old in the apartment. The National Bureau of Investigation is looking into her possible involvement in the events, but police say that she is being treated as an outsider.
      "She has certainly had some kind of relationship with Valjakkala, but we have not yet investigated the matter", said Police Inspector Kari Jalonen.
      Police say that they got on Valjakkala’s trail on the basis of their own investigations; no tipoffs from the public were needed.
      Jalonen thinks that it is likely that Valjakkala drove to Helsinki in a car that was stolen from Hamina at about the time that he fled the city. The car was found in Maunula the following day. However, Jalonen emphasised that the investigation is not yet complete.
     
Police are still investigating if Valjakkala may have committed any crimes during his escape. He is to be handed back to the penal system today, Friday.
      Inspector Jukka Siltaloppi of the Criminal Sanctions Agency says that Valjakkala will be placed immediately in a closed prison.
      Siltaloppi believes that Valjakkala will not have any hope of getting a furlough or being transferred to a minimum security prison for at least six months to a year.
      He also faces disciplinary action, which could vary from a warning to solitary confinement.
     
Valjakkala, who currently uses the name Nikita Joakim Fouganthine, escaped Monday night from a window at the work colony where he was being kept. His escape was noticed in the morning, about eight hours later.
      The NBI suspects that it is likely that he got outside help from the very beginning of his escape.
      Valjakkala was given a life sentence for murder in Sweden in 1989. He had killed three members of the same family at a cemetery in Åmsele in the north of Sweden in 1988.
     
Minister of Justice Leena Luhtanen (SDP) said on Thursday that transferring Juha Valjakkala from an ordinary prison to a more open labour colony was a mistake.
      Speaking in Parliament during Question Time, Luhtanen noted that the decision was made by the Criminal Sanctions Agency, and that the Ministry of Justice had no knowledge of the matter.
      MP Petri Salo (Nat. Coalition Party) asked how it was possible that a triple murderer with a record of four escapes could be moved to a labour colony where supervision of inmates is more difficult, and escape is easier.
     
Valjakkala has served over 18 years of a life sentence. His clemency application to the President is currently under consideration. However, it is expected that his recent attempt at escape will delay his freedom.
      After being convicted and sentenced in Sweden, Valjakkala was transferred to Finland in the summer of 1989. His previous escape attempts were in 1991, 1994, 2002, and 2004.
      The repeated escape attempts are believed to be one reason why Valjakkala has been kept incarcerated longer than any other Finnish prisoner.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finnish triple murderer escapes from minimum security prison (29.11.2006)

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