Prosecutors demand far longer hunting bans in Finland’s largest poaching case

Prosecutors have called for significantly extended hunting prohibitions for those convicted in Finland’s biggest poaching scandal, as the case known as Savukukko opened in the Eastern Finland Court of Appeal on Monday, Yle reports.

The appeal hearing follows last year’s district court ruling, where 26 men were convicted of serious hunting offences—including the illegal killing or wounding of wolves, wolverines, lynxes, and protected birds—committed between 2019 and 2023 in Lapinlahti and nearby municipalities. Five defendants were acquitted.

District prosecutors Riku-Olli Paukkeri and Lea Koljonen argued that the original hunting bans, which ranged up to roughly three years, were far too lenient. Paukkeri dismissed the lower court’s reasoning that time without access to firearms during the investigation should reduce the ban, stating that the law does not support such leniency.

“The court had considered the shortening of the hunting ban justified because the defendants’ weapons were in police custody during the pre-trial phase, meaning they couldn’t hunt,” Paukkeri said. “We believe the wording of the law does not recognise this as grounds for reduction.”

Prosecutors also demanded harsher penalties for some defendants, including a former long-serving Lapinlahti municipal councillor, 77-year-old Jorma Juhani Ruotsalainen, who was acquitted of a serious poaching charge involving a collared wolf named Unna but convicted of four other offences. Ruotsalainen received a one-year and two-month suspended sentence and a three-year hunting ban. Prosecutors now seek a ten-year ban, an extended suspended sentence, and community service.

Ruotsalainen’s defence rejected the demands, arguing that media exposure had already imposed sufficient consequences. His lawyers claimed the charge could not constitute a serious offence, as he had allegedly fired deliberately wide of the wolf.

A second defendant, a 39-year-old man, also faces stricter penalties. Originally fined for aiding poachers by releasing his dog to track Unna, prosecutors now demand a six-month suspended sentence and a five-year hunting ban. His defence disputed the allegations.

The Court of Appeal has allocated seven days for the case, with a verdict expected by late June or early July.