Court orders mental assessment for Lauttasaari arson suspect

Helsinki District Court has ordered an 18-year-old man accused of setting fire to a bicycle shop in Lauttasaari, Helsinki, to undergo a mental-state assessment, Yle reports. The court found in an interim ruling that his actions met the criteria for aggravated criminal mischief.

The court will decide his sentence after the assessment is completed. The man himself requested an evaluation of his mental state at the time of the offence.

A second man, who was 17 when the fire was set, was convicted of aggravated criminal mischief as a young offender and sentenced to six years in prison.

The two admitted setting the fire. According to the judgment, they had been recruited for payment to burn down the bicycle shop. Preparations for the commissioned crime began in early February, and the people who ordered it operated online under pseudonyms.

One alleged organiser was arrested abroad. A 21-year-old organiser who was arrested was sentenced to six years and six months in prison for aggravated criminal mischief. Two other men suspected of ordering the crime remain abroad and are evading police.

One man was also found guilty of negligent money laundering but was not sentenced because he had been held in pre-trial detention. Charges of money laundering against another defendant were dismissed.

The motive for the commissioned crime remained unclear during the police investigation. The judgment is not legally final.