Appeal court cuts Simon Ekpa’s sentence to four years

Finland’s Court of Appeal has reduced Simon Ekpa’s prison sentence for terrorism offences from six years to four. Yle reported that the court upheld the convictions but considered the circumstances of the offences grounds for a shorter sentence.

Ekpa, who lives in Lahti and is of Nigerian background, appealed against a district court ruling issued in September 2025. The district court convicted him of publicly inciting people to commit an offence for terrorist purposes and participating in the activities of a terrorist group. Prosecutors had sought a harsher sentence on appeal.

The district court found that Ekpa had promoted the independence of Biafra, a region in south-eastern Nigeria, through illegal means between 2021 and 2024. Ekpa argued in the appeal that an armed conflict was taking place in south-eastern Nigeria and that international humanitarian law, rather than national terrorism laws, should apply.

The appeal court examined the nature of the conflict, the organisation of the armed groups and the intensity of the fighting. It found that the equipment and weapons used by Nigeria’s federal forces, as well as the organisation and weaponry of groups led by Ekpa, pointed to an internal armed conflict. The court said the circumstances of Ekpa’s offences closely resembled those of a civil war.

However, the court found that the fighting was too sporadic to reach the intensity of a civil war. It could not establish that the armed forces led by Ekpa were capable of military operations that would make the fighting prolonged and continuous. There had also been no reports of significant numbers of civilians fleeing the conflict.

Ekpa has been in custody since November 2024. The 41-year-old came to Finland from Nigeria as an athlete in 2007 and previously represented the National Coalition Party on a regional public transport committee in Lahti. The district court also convicted him of aggravated tax fraud and violating provisions of the Advocates Act. The appeal court ruling is not final, and Ekpa can seek leave to appeal to Finland’s Supreme Court.