Supreme Court ruling means Nikita Fouganthine could get parole in February 2009

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In a judgement made public today, Wednesday, the Supreme Court overturned a decision by the Helsinki Appeal Court that had cancelled the release on parole of Nikita Fouganthine (formerly Juha Valjakkala), who has been serving a life sentence for three murders committed in Sweden in 1989.
      As a result, Fouganthine will be eligible for parole in February 2009.
     
The Appeal Court reached a decision in December 2007 to allow Fouganthine to seek parole, and this was supposed to come into effect from July of this year, but the ruling was then withdrawn a month or so before the due date.
      In the spring Fouganthine had breached the conditions of a supervised trial release by going AWOL for a couple of days, during which time he also committed certain traffic offences.
      The Supreme Court held that although Fouganthine had caused danger to others during his flight, the new offences were of an entirely different and milder nature than those that led to his incarceration on a life sentence.
      The Court also felt it was unlikely that on his release Fouganthine would be guilty of any further offences that would injure life, health, or personal freedoms. The length of his sentence served was also a consideration.
     
Fouganthine is the first life prisoner who has received permission to appeal against an Appeal Court judgement on his or her release. Four others have tried earlier without success.
      The Court of Appeal has been able to decide on the parole of prisoners serving life sentences since the autumn of 2006.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Fouganthine to be returned to closed prison (15.5.2008)
  Life prisoner Nikita Fouganthine to be paroled in near future (4.12.2007)
  Valjakkala caught soon after escape (12.5.2008)

Links:
  Nikita Fouganthine (Wikipedia)

Helsingin Sanomat