Valjakkala caught soon after escape

Convicted triple murderer Nikita Fouganthine, formerly Juha Valjakkala, was arrested in Saariselkä in Finnish Lapland, said Helsinki police on Sunday evening. The 42-year-old Fouganthine had been on the run from an experimental release programme for less than 24 hours.
      Police made the arrest on the basis of tipoffs from the public.
      Fouganthine and his wife were reportedly arrested in a stolen van after being chased by police for 30 kilometres.
      The chase ended when Fouganthine himself stopped his car on the side of Highway 4. Fouganthine did not put up any resistance, and he was reportedly not intoxicated.
     
Police put out a warrant on Fouganthine after he was not at home at 11:00 PM Saturday night when his monitors made a spot check. Under the trial release programme, he was supposed to have been at home at that time.
      Fouganthine was released on a trial basis in February after the Helsinki Court of Appeals had decided that he should be paroled in early July. Violation of the terms of the trial release do not affect the Court of Appeals decision, but it could affect how the rest of his imprisonment is spent.
      “We will probably consider cancelling his monitored trial release, because he pulled off this disappearance”, says Marjatta Kaijalainen, director of the Regional Prison of South Finland.
     
Valjakkala was given a life sentence for the murder of three people in Åmsele, Sweden, in 1988. He spent 19 years behind bars. He has made a number of escape attempts.
      In 2004 he failed to return from a prison furlough, and in 1994 he escaped with a hostage.
      Other escape attempts took place in 2004, 1997, 1991 and 1989. News of the experimental release programme was met with dismay and anger in Sweden.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Police catch escaped triple murderer Juha Valjakkala in Helsinki (1.12.2006)
  Finnish triple murderer escapes from minimum security prison (29.11.2006)
  Swedish police infuriated at sluggish action by Finns over Valjakkala (16.5.2002)
  Triple murderer Juha Valjakkala, missing from prison since Friday, caught in Sweden (14.5.2002)

See also:
  Life prisoner Nikita Fouganthine to be paroled in near future (4.12.2007)