Appeal Court for Finland reduce Simon Ekpa six years sentence

Di Court of Appeal for Finland don reduce di six-year prison sentence wey one District Court bin sama on Simon Ekpa afta e find am guilty of terrorism and oda charges, according to information on di court website.

Simon Ekpa, a Nigerian-Finnish citizen, na di leader of di Biafra Republic Government in Exile (BRGIE), one of di groups wey dey fight for di independence of di eastern region of Nigeria to bicom a separate kontri known as Biafra.

Finnish police bin investigate di case togeda wit Nigerian authorities.

On 1 September 2025, di Päijät-Häme District Court bin sentence Ekpa to six years for prison, but for August dis year, e appeal di judgement as im lawyers tok say di six years sentence dey too much for di charges wey court find am guilty of.

For dia judgement, di Appeal Court uphold di decision of di District Court say Ekpa true true dey guilty of terrorism-related crimes, however, dem reduce di amount of time Ekpa go spend behind bars from six years to four.

Di three justices wey resolve dis mata for di Finland Court of Appeal na Judges Aki Rasilainen, Antti Santaranta, and Assistant Judge Johanna Puukka.

or di judgement of di Päijät-Häme District Court for September last year, dem hold say Ekpa bin dey participate for terrorist organisation and say e bin dey publicly incite pipo to commit crime for terrorism purpose.

Di court say Ekpa bin dey use im huge following for social media to dey cause tension for di south-eastern region of Nigeria betwin August 2021 and November 2024.

However, for di judgement of di Appeal Court, dem say dem consider di situations surrounding Simon Ekpa actions and dem agree say di situation for di eastern region of Nigeria resemble civil war, but e no meet di definition.

Ekpa lawyers bin argue for di Appeal Court say im involvement for di situation for eastern Nigeria no be for terrorism intention but na bicos of di political katakata wey follow di Biafra struggle.