Handling of Kauhajoki shooting case continues at Vaasa Court of Appeal
Six new witnesses are to be heard in the Kauhajoki trial which started at the Vaasa Court of Appeal on Monday.
One of the new witnesses is the gunman Matti Juhani Saari’s stepfather, whom the court will hear via video conferencing on Thursday.
According to both the prosecution and the defence, no sensational new evidence is expected to be presented to the Court of Appeal.
The question is about a new judicial consideration of the case, says prosecutor Jouko Nurminen.
The prosecutor and the immediate relatives of the victims of the Kauhajoki school shooting renewed their claims at the Court of Appeal against the police inspector who failed to confiscate the gunman Matti Saari’s pistol, despite the shooting videos Saari had placed on the YouTube website.
The prosecutor says that the police inspector was guilty of negligence, demanding that the inspector be fined for negligent dereliction of duty over the affair.
The immediate relatives of the victims are demanding that the inspector be convicted on 10 counts of aggravated involuntary manslaughter.
In addition, the families are seeking a total of more than EUR 800,000 in compensation for suffering from the defendant and the state.
A dozen or so immediate relatives of the victims arrived in Vaasa on Monday in order to follow the hearing at the Vaasa Court of Appeal.
The handling of the case is to continue for the entire week. The police officer was acquitted by a lower court in Kauhajoki in January 2010 (see linked article).
In the autumn of 2008, student Matti Saari, 22, shot and killed ten people at a vocational college in Kauhajoki, before turning the gun on himself.
Saari later died of his injuries in hospital in Tampere.
One of the new witnesses is the gunman Matti Juhani Saari’s stepfather, whom the court will hear via video conferencing on Thursday.
According to both the prosecution and the defence, no sensational new evidence is expected to be presented to the Court of Appeal.
The question is about a new judicial consideration of the case, says prosecutor Jouko Nurminen.
The prosecutor and the immediate relatives of the victims of the Kauhajoki school shooting renewed their claims at the Court of Appeal against the police inspector who failed to confiscate the gunman Matti Saari’s pistol, despite the shooting videos Saari had placed on the YouTube website.
The prosecutor says that the police inspector was guilty of negligence, demanding that the inspector be fined for negligent dereliction of duty over the affair.
The immediate relatives of the victims are demanding that the inspector be convicted on 10 counts of aggravated involuntary manslaughter.
In addition, the families are seeking a total of more than EUR 800,000 in compensation for suffering from the defendant and the state.
A dozen or so immediate relatives of the victims arrived in Vaasa on Monday in order to follow the hearing at the Vaasa Court of Appeal.
The handling of the case is to continue for the entire week. The police officer was acquitted by a lower court in Kauhajoki in January 2010 (see linked article).
In the autumn of 2008, student Matti Saari, 22, shot and killed ten people at a vocational college in Kauhajoki, before turning the gun on himself.
Saari later died of his injuries in hospital in Tampere.
Helsingin Sanomat