Finnish legal expert calls recent human trafficking sentences “lenient”

A former Polarica executive convicted of 78 counts of human trafficking received only a 2.5-year prison sentence, a penalty that criminal law professor emeritus Matti Tolvanen describes as “not particularly severe” compared to the maximum possible under Finnish law.

Tolvanen, who has followed both the Polarica and Kiantama berry industry trafficking cases, told Yle the sentences handed down this week were “on the lighter side.” He noted that while a single count of human trafficking carries a maximum six-year term, the system’s unified sentencing approach for multiple offenses often results in proportionally shorter total penalties.

Lapland District Court on Monday sentenced Polarica’s former CEO Jukka Kristo to two years and six months in prison for 78 human trafficking violations, along with a five-year business ban. His Thai business partner, Kalyakorn “Durian” Phongphit, received a nine-month sentence.

Tolvanen criticized the unified sentencing framework as problematic, particularly for victims. “If you commit 30 acts of human trafficking, the additional penalty might only be about 1.5 years compared to a single offense,” he explained. While he considers the system justified for property crimes, he questioned whether it is “overly generous” in cases involving violence, health risks, or sexual autonomy violations.

The Polarica ruling follows last September’s convictions in the Kiantama case, where company CEO Vernu Vasunta and coordinator Durian Phongphit were sentenced to three years and six months, and three years respectively, for 62 counts of aggravated human trafficking. The distinction hinged on whether the crimes involved “deceit” (kavaluus)—a legal threshold Tolvanen called “the most difficult concept to interpret” in these cases.

Under Finnish law, trafficking becomes aggravated if it involves violence, threats, deceit, organized crime, or severe harm such as bodily injury, life-endangering conditions, or exploitation of vulnerable individuals, including minors. Tolvanen expects the Polarica case to advance to the Court of Appeal and potentially the Supreme Court.