The Forssa-Loimaa District court handed down prison sentences to three men on Wednesday in connection with the arranging of dogfights. The men were all convicted of animal cruelty offences.
A man born in 1980 was given a two-month custodial sentence, and two other men, born in 1976 and 1962, were both given six-month suspended sentences. The 60-day custodial sentence was influenced by an earlier conviction for other offences.
All three defendants were banned from keeping a dog for a five-year period.
Charges had been filed against four men in all, but the fourth could not be brought before the court. In his case, the matter will be handled at a later date.
The court decision was the result of a vote. The judge on the panel took a more lenient view in respect of the sentences handed down, and would have called for a three-month suspended term and 30 days' imprisonment.
The dogfight in question was arranged in Ypäjä in March 2007, and the matter came to light as a result of a controversial BBC Panorama investigative documentary that was also screened in Finland in August of last year.
Six fights were arranged in the course of an evening, and the ring used was seen to become bloodied after the bouts. One of the defendants put down an injured dog in an inhumane manner after the fighting.
This article was originally published on Wednesday evening and has been held over in case readers missed it.
