Reindeer district leaders face discrimination and misconduct charges
Tuesday 29th September 2026 on 16:30 in
Finland
Six leaders of the Muddusjärvi Reindeer Herding District are accused of discrimination, breach of official duty and a reindeer herding offence in a case over a rejected sale between spouses, Yle reports.
The case is due to begin on Wednesday at the Lapland District Court. Hearings will be held at the Inari municipal hall in Ivalo, with seven days set aside for the trial. The defendants took part in the decision as members of the district’s board.
The district rejected the couple’s sale of a reindeer ownership mark and herd in spring 2023. It said the decision was intended to protect the livelihoods of full-time reindeer herders and traditional Sámi reindeer herding culture. The district argued that the couple were not members of its Sámi community.
The ownership mark is a pattern cut into a reindeer’s ear to show who owns the animal. The sale was considered earlier by the Northern Finland Administrative Court, which ruled that the district’s decision was unlawful and discriminatory. Under the Reindeer Husbandry Act, sales within a family cannot be blocked.
The district had also offered to exercise a right of first refusal over the family mark. The administrative court said the district had no such right in a sale between spouses. The district sought permission to appeal to the Supreme Administrative Court in spring 2024, but the court declined to grant it.
Other reindeer-related cases have recently been heard in the Lapland District Court. Last spring, three people were charged with aggravated theft and aggravated forgery in a case involving alleged reindeer thefts in the Paistunturi district. A decision is expected at the end of September.
A larger reindeer theft investigation is still under prosecutorial review. Police suspect 15 people of serious offences in a case investigated by the National Bureau of Investigation and the Lapland Border Guard. The investigation has included suspected aggravated money laundering, aggravated fraud, aggravated hunting offences and an aggravated nature conservation offence across three reindeer herding districts. The review is expected to be completed by the end of the year.