Police issue European warrant for fugitive Vastaamo hacker

Aleksanteri Kivimäki, convicted of hacking the Vastaamo psychotherapy centre and extortion, is now wanted across Europe, Yle reports. The Eastern Uusimaa Police Department has confirmed that a European arrest warrant has been issued for him.

The warrant means Kivimäki can be arrested if he is found in any EU member state. The system also includes some non-EU countries, such as Norway.

Kivimäki, 29, has been missing from Finnish authorities for months. Police first issued a national wanted notice in June after the Criminal Sanctions Agency requested assistance because he had not reported to prison to serve the remaining part of his sentence.

His lawyer, Peter Jaari, told Yle that he has not heard from Kivimäki since the summer.

Months remain on sentence

Kivimäki broke into Vastaamo’s information system, downloaded its patient database and published online the details of around 33,000 people whose information was stored in it. He also extorted some customers by threatening to release their data.

In February, the Helsinki Court of Appeal sentenced him to six years and 11 months in prison for aggravated data breach, aggravated extortion, attempted aggravated extortion and aggravated dissemination of information violating personal privacy, among other offences.

Yle has previously reported that Kivimäki still has at least around five months of his sentence to serve.

Previously wanted by police

Kivimäki has evaded authorities before. In 2022, police issued a wanted notice and a European arrest warrant after he was remanded in custody in absentia over the Vastaamo offences. He was arrested in France in February 2023.

He was also missing from authorities in February 2024. A district court had released him from pretrial detention during the trial, but the Court of Appeal later ordered him to be detained again. As he could not be reached, police issued a wanted notice. He was arrested in Helsinki after being missing for just under a week.