Luoti and Amirkhani trial highlights delays in reporting sexual offences

People who experience sexual violence often wait months or years before reporting it, a lawyer says. The issue has emerged in the trial of musician Mira Luoti and mixed martial arts fighter Makwan Amirkhani, Yle reports.

Amirkhani is accused of forcing Luoti to take part in a sexual act while they were filming the television programme Celebrity Survivors in 2016. Prosecutors say he held her, kissed her against her will, touched her over her clothes and masturbated in her presence.

Amirkhani denies the charge. He has said the incident involved consensual “kissing and cuddling”, not a sexual offence. The trial began at the West Uusimaa District Court in Espoo on October 26, 2026.

Rebecka Holm, a lawyer at the Tukinainen rape crisis centre, said it is unusual for someone to call the police immediately or to recognise at once that what happened was sexual violence. Fear is a common reason for delaying a report, she said.

People who have experienced sexual violence may fear they will not be believed or may be judged for what happened. Some worry they should have acted differently, while others minimise their experience or struggle to accept what took place, Holm said.

Luoti has said she did not dare report the incident for years because she feared someone would retaliate against her family. Witness Paula Vesala told the court on Thursday that Luoti had shared the same fear.

Holm said those concerns are reinforced by attitudes that blame victims. Lawyer Minna Pilviö said on Yle’s A-studio programme earlier this week that defence arguments often suggest a person cannot be a victim because they did not report an offence within a particular timeframe.

In sexual offence cases, a victim’s own account is often the most important evidence because concrete evidence of what happened may not be available, Holm said. Courts assess the account’s reliability and consistency, a process that can leave people feeling as though their own experience is being questioned.

Holm said media coverage of trials can affect whether people feel able to report sexual violence. Clients have told the crisis centre they are less likely to report after seeing charges dismissed in other cases. In one case in Malmi, Helsinki, three men accused of raping a minor were acquitted by both the district court and the court of appeal.

Holm said she nevertheless considers it important that the Luoti and Amirkhani trial is being held in public, because it shows the arguments and discussions that can arise in sexual offence cases. Yle said the case is unusual because both people are public figures, the alleged offence took place during television filming and both parties wanted an open trial. Sexual offence trials are usually held behind closed doors.