Aleksanteri Kivimäki missing

Alexander Kivimäki (formerly Julius Kivimäki) has again been ordered to be imprisoned. However, Kivimäki has not been reached. The prosecutor confirms the matter to Iltalehti Pasi Vainio.

The Court of Appeal gave its written decision on the imprisonment case on Friday.

– The imprisonment could not be enforced. The obvious reason is that Kivimäki has not been reached, Vainio tells Iltalehte.

Be the first to report about Kivimäki being missing Helsingin sanomat newspaper. Iltalehti has not reached Kivimäki’s lawyer to comment on the case.

Trial in progress

On Friday, the Helsinki Court of Appeal ordered Kivimäki to be re-imprisoned for crimes related to the Vastaamo data breach. Kivimäki managed to be free for only a few weeks by the decision of the district court of Länsi-Uusimaa.

Kivimäki was released from pretrial detention on February 5. The district court considered that there were no longer any conditions for keeping Kivimäki in custody.

The Court of Appeal assesses the matter differently. According to Vainio, the court of appeals did not present any new grounds for the conditions of imprisonment.

The Vastamo trial is still ongoing. Kivimäki’s possible disappearance should have no effect on the legal process, as the matter can be resolved even without his presence.

Travel ban

The district court released Kivimäki from pretrial detention on February 5. At the same time, it also ordered him to a travel ban and to stay in the Espoo area.

Kivimäki was ordered to stay at his place of residence every day between 19:00 and 08:00. He also had to report to the police department three times a week and be available from a specific phone number whenever needed.

The prosecutor appealed the decision to the court the very next day, February 6, considering that the conditions for imprisonment still exist. The basis was, among other things, the danger of evasion.

Hovi imprisoned again

In its decision on Friday, the Court of Appeal sided with the prosecutors.

Kivimäki was arrested in February last year in France, where he appeared under a false identity. Kivimäki does not have a place to study or work in Finland, and he has lived abroad for years. He also has a wife and child abroad. The court considered that Kivimäki has closer connections to foreign countries than to Finland.

In addition, Kivimäki has property in cryptocurrency that has not been seized. Kivimäki did not deny this in his answer. He has previously held false travel documents, and he did not come to Finland voluntarily for the trial.

The court considered, among other things, that all these facts support the prosecutor’s view of the danger of evasion.

The matter was also supported by the fact that the expected punishment for Kivimäki is long. The prosecutor demands a 7-year prison sentence for him.

– The interest in solving the matter is great, and the realization of criminal responsibility is important. The quality of the criminal suspicions supports keeping Kivimäki in custody at this stage, despite the fact that the period of deprivation of liberty has already become quite long, stated the Court of Appeal in the reasons for its decision.