Woman gets five-year sentence for setting Tampere apartment block on fire

Pirkanmaa District Court has sentenced 24-year-old Anni Eliisa Pieski to five years in prison for aggravated criminal mischief after she set fire to an apartment building in Tampere, Yle reports.

The fire started in a studio apartment on Kullervonkatu in the Tammela district shortly after midnight last September. It spread explosively, forcing the rescue service to evacuate 43 people.

Pieski had a key to the first-floor apartment. She piled clothes on the floor and set them alight. The apartment’s window and front door exploded, and the fire spread to the upper floors both inside and outside the building.

The building has seven floors and 42 apartments. The first residents were able to return home in December. No one was seriously injured, but the fire and smoke caused extensive damage.

The prosecutor had sought at least six and a half years in prison, while the defence argued that a three-year sentence would have been appropriate. Pieski reported herself to the police and helped investigators solve the case.

Pieski had smoked alpha-PVP before starting the fire. A forensic psychiatric examination found that she was legally responsible at the time, meaning that she understood the consequences of her actions.

She told the court that she had been paranoid and believed that certain groups, some residents of the building and her family were persecuting her. She apologised for her actions.

Several dozen injured parties are seeking compensation totalling hundreds of thousands of euros. The verdict is not yet final.

Aggravated criminal mischief can apply when an act endangers a large number of people and is considered particularly serious overall. The sentence range is between two and 10 years in prison.