-----Original Message----- From: Del [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Monday, November 08, 1999 10:49 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [GSN] (fw) Orimattila Appeal Trial From: "Del" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Orimattila Appeal Trial _______________________ Finland: The Orimattila incident, where fur farmer Markku Kuisma shot and wounded three of five animal activists Elina Salonen (22), Sami Seppila (24), Jani Seppala (30), Jirka Stahl (24) and Joni Purmonen (25) who were trying to cause economic damage was appealed in higher court this week (2-5 November) 11/2/99 On the first day all parties stated their dissatisfaction with the lower courts results and demanded higher sentences for the counterparties and that their own charges be dismissed. In January 1999 the lower court sentenced five activists to four months suspended and one and half years probation for breach of the domestic peace. Although the activists were caught at the fox farm with several bottles of red henna a conviction on any other grounds wasn't possible, because attempting to cause criminal damage is not illegal in Finland. The fur farmer who shot at the activists with a shotgun wounding three, one of them seriously, got one and a half years suspended and probation for aggravated assault. It is believed by the attorneys that fur farmers sentence will get higher because new studies have proven the potential lethality of shooting from the distance the farmer is believed to have shot his shotgun (40-60 metres). This might mean that the farmer will convicted for attempted manslaughter, which would quite likely mean higher sentences as well. In that case he would get a jail sentence of 2 years or more. 11/3/99- Back to the scene on the crime Under a new Finnish law the entire court including the activists, the fur farmer and his wife, the lawyers, the judges, the press and anyone else present at the trial was treated to a visit to the scene of the crime. This was in an attempt to get a better understanding of the evidence and testimonies. The farm is a heartbreaking sight: cages full of blue fox, silver fox and various crossbreeds. What was obvious is that many cages were empty- many Finnish fox farmers have had to reduce production and this was evident on Kuisma's farm. What became evident (especially to the activists who were shot) is that they were shot at very close range. 11/4/99- Fur Farmers Defense Markku Kuisma was on the stand for at least 2 hours and was questioned by all of the activists 5 lawyers, plus the prosecution, his own lawyer, his wife's lawyer (both of their lawyers have been paid for by the Finnish Fur Breeders Assoc.) and even the judge. Kuismas defence maintained their version of the events: Kuisma didn't know that there were 5, 2 mm shotgun bullets in his pocket, the very same size of pellets that were later dug out of three activists. He thought that he would have maximum of 4 mm pellets in his pocket which according to him, wouldn't be harmful from that distance. Kuisma explained how he had been out hunting foxes about a half a year before and the 5,2 mm bullets have been in his pocket from those days. His defense is that first of all he thought that the bullets he was using would be maximum of 4 mm size and that he was shooting from the safe distance. The other part of his defense is that he was forced to do as he did. Although he admitted that he was shooting people in their backs while they were running away, he felt that he was under constant pressure from animal rights extremists. His farm has been raided three times before and when he received a letter in which his life was threatened, he felt that he had to be armed when he went out to his farm. Kuismas defense lawyers argued for long time how for animal activists escaping is not escaping. It is retreating to gather the strength and momentum for a new raid, possibly to the same or some other fur farm. They explained what kind of threat these activists have posed on the fur industry and how many raids there have been and how alarmingly the animal rights activists have started to use arson as one of their tactics. 11/4&5/99: Activists condemn fur farming in court The rest of day two and most of the day 3 was used to hear the activists side of the story. They explained how they approached the farm with the intention to photograph skinned foxes or - if the foxes were still not pelted - to dye the pelts with red henna. Before the decision on tactics was made, the fist shot came. It was a warning shot and everyone started to run away from the farm. The second warning shot came just seconds after. The farmer had a clear road to run, asopposed to a icy and ploughed field that the five activists had to stumble across, so he closed in and fired his shotgun right at them. It is still unclear how many shots Kuisma fired at the activists. Kuisma maintains that he fired only once. The activists side disagree. Two of them, Jani Seppila and Joni Purmonen describe how they felt two separate hits from the pellets and how the shooting marks clearly show that all the wounds couldn't have been as a result of one shot. Also the number of wounds, Jani Seppila had nine pellet wounds, Joni Purmonen five and Elina Salonen one, cast a shadow of doubt on the one shot theory. The activists also described in detail how they got back to the car which was parked almost a kilometer away and how Jani had to struggle to get there while his lungs were filling up with blood. Jani lost his ability to talk and breathing got difficult in the car and others tried to keep him conscious by cracking jokes. In the lower court all five refused to answer all questions about their ideology and relations to the ALF etc. This time all questions were answered. This gave them an opportunity to explain their motives and goals in detail. The media picked up on this and wrote about how the activists goal is to end fur farming in Finland. This made the headlines. Kuismas defense tried to discredit the activists by interrogating activists on statements made to the media in the past. Also letters from open e-mail list were taken. For instance Joni Purmonen was asked what he meant when said that he doesn't want to be part of the power structure but wants to see the present power structure fall. The judge of the court stopped this line of questioning as is he considered it a political issue not relating to the issues of the trial. 11/4&5/99 - The Experts Talk The coronary and gun experts gave their testimony on the third day. The basic message was that from distance of 40-60 metres, shooting with shotgun is potentially lethal regardless of wether it is 5, 2 or 4 millimetres bullets. These testimonies spoke against Kuismas defence that he wanted only to "mark" the activists and not harm them. It also made clear that the crime in question should be attempted manslaughter and not aggravated assault. On day four an investigator from the central crime investigation unit spoke. He, Lars Gronroos, is specialized on animal and environmental crimes and gathers information about various activist groups and sabotages much like the notorious ARNI in England. His statements and testimonies have always been fair and he refuses to talk about terrorism when activists crimes are described. He also said that animal rights crimes are hard to crack as the activists plan the raids carefully, leave no clues and don't use alcohol while committing the crime. Also the method of not commenting in interrogations that activists have adopted makes police work extremely hard. Final statements Both activists and Kuismas side demands the same: dismissing their own charges and custodial sentences to the other. Prosecution wants custodial sentences for all to send a strong message that neither the fur farm raids or using violence to stop them is tolerated. The court gives the sentences within a month. For news in Finnish visit http://www.enviroweb.org/ALFIS/finland/ --------------------------- ONElist Sponsor ---------------------------- Looking for affordable fine art that's easy to buy? Visualize.com offers a great variety of styles and subjects, framing, delivery, gift ideas and more!! Visit us at: <a href=" http://clickme.onelist.com/ad/visualize6 ">Click Here</a> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
