A prosecutor has decided to press charges against a man who charged at ex-Foreign Minister Timo Soini while he was campaigning in March last year.
The man was said to be behaving aggressively when he attacked Soini during a campaign event in Vantaa’s Korso district. He was quickly wrestled to the ground by security, however he reportedly also resisted police at the scene.
At the time Soini was campaigning on behalf of the nationalist Finns Party splinter group Blue Reform ahead of parliamentary elections that were due to take place in April. He had previously announced his decision not to run for re-election to Parliament.
The man has been accused of attempted assault. Two additional charges of violently resisting arrest will be laid over his struggle with security and police officials.
A further charge of violating political freedoms is also under consideration, however the prosecutor has not yet filed charges accordingly.
Suspect denies charges
The suspect, whom daily Helsingin Sanomat reported is in his early 50s, has denied all of the charges.
The formal document requesting the defendant to appear before a court has not yet yet been made public. The date of a trial is also not yet known.
Photos taken at the time of the incident show that the man was wearing a jacket with the insignia of the anti-immigrant group, Soldiers of Odin. However police have said that the attack did not appear to have been planned.
Although politicians in Finland rarely encounter physical violence, there have been a few cases where they were confronted by irate members of the public.
In 2015 a man dumped Coke over then-Finance Minister Alexander Stubb at a university event in Tampere. Before that, in 2012, a man pulled a knife on then-Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen at a municipal election rally in Turku.
