Man sentenced to over five years in prison for Rovaniemi samurai sword attack

A district court in Finnish Lapland has sentenced a 30-year-old man to five years and five months in prison for attempted manslaughter after he attacked a stranger with a samurai sword in Rovaniemi in March, Yle reports.

The Lapland District Court delivered the verdict on Monday, convicting Dmitri Nazarov for the attack, which took place in the early hours of March 13. Prosecutors had initially sought harsher penalties—nine to ten years in prison for attempted murder—against Nazarov and two other men: the sword’s owner and his son.

Nazarov’s defense attorney, Jani Pakasen, confirmed on Tuesday that his client intends to appeal the ruling to the Court of Appeal. While the sentence was lighter than expected—reducing the charge from attempted murder to attempted manslaughter—Pakasen described it as “in line with expectations.”

Prosecutor Maija Aarto also expressed dissatisfaction with the verdict and will challenge it in the appeals court. “It’s typical in severe cases like this that they don’t end at the district court level,” Aarto told Yle.

The court dismissed all charges against the sword’s 38-year-old owner and his 20-year-old son. Their attorneys, Ilkka Ikäheimo and Antti Hyvönen, said the acquittal came as a relief. “I never thought my client would be convicted of attempted murder,” Ikäheimo said, calling the prosecutor’s demand for a ten-year sentence “surprising,” even for the man who wielded the sword.

Hyvönen, representing the younger defendant, echoed the sentiment: “We’re both satisfied with the outcome. I couldn’t believe such a harsh sentence would materialize.” Both attorneys described the case as unusual but noted it was routine from a legal standpoint.

The attack, which prosecutors previously stated could have been fatal had the victim not been heavily intoxicated, involved a sword resembling those used in the film Kill Bill. The victim survived despite being struck in a manner described as “throat-slitting.”