“Some guy came and stabbed a guy” – That’s how Sebastian Lämsä justified his actions – 2024-10-02 17:40:42

The prosecutor demands that he is known for his strong neo-Nazi background Sebastian Lämsä at least ten years imprisonment.

Lämsä admits that he stabbed a 12-year-old boy and then chased another boy with the intention of harming him in June in the center of Oulu.

According to the prosecutor, Lämsä was guilty of two attempted murders in the case. In addition, according to the prosecutor, the actions had a racist motive.

Lämsä denies attempted murder. According to him, there was no racist motive.

Lämsä admits aggravated assault and attempted aggravated assault in the case.

The verdict in the case will only be given later, because Lämsa’s mental state examination has not even started yet.

Iltalehti followed the trial on the spot. The follow-up in text format can be found at the end of this story.

Hat off

The proceedings of the case began on Wednesday in the Oulu district court. Escorted by guards, Lämsä covered his head in a jacket when the media was given permission to photograph at the beginning of the session.

After the treatment began, Lämsä took the jacket off his head. The president of the court pointed out that the cap should also be removed.

– We have such a practice here, district judge Liisa Männikkö quoth.

Recorded on video

Surveillance camera recordings were viewed in court, which give a very clear picture of the events on Thursday evening, June 13.

The video shows a group of three young people walking down the street in the center of Oulu towards the shopping center Valkea. The heat goes after them quickly.

Immediately after reaching the summer street that runs through the shopping center, Lämsä stabs a 12-year-old boy several times from behind with a knife.

A 14-year-old boy who was with the victim saw the events with a side eye.

– Some guy came and stabbed the guy, he told the court.

The stabbing was also seen by the security guard.

– They were really strong, such stabbing blows, he described.

The victim received serious injuries in the situation. According to the prosecutor, the blow that hit behind the ear extended to the nasopharynx and had hit close to the carotid artery. In addition, blows hit the back of the head, among other things.

The prosecutor says it was purely a coincidence that the boy did not die.

Juhani Lämsä covered his face in the Oulu district court. Sami Aspelund

One after another

After the stabbing, Lämsä turned his attention to the 14-year-old boy who was with the stabbing victim.

According to the prosecutor, Lämsä had at this point thought that he had “eliminated” the stabbing victim, i.e. that he had caused the fatal injuries.

The 14-year-old ran away.

– He is literally running for his life, the prosecutor comments on the surveillance camera video.

The boy told the court that he concluded from the sounds he heard that the stabber was on his buttocks.

– I heard running steps.

He managed to shake off the pursuer outside the shopping center.

– Fast feet have been his salvation, the boy’s assistant said in court.

From the chaser to the chased

When the boy was safe, he said he returned to the mall, where he had seen his friend on the ground covered in blood.

In the meantime, Lämsä had changed from the chaser to the chased. Behind him was a security guard who had followed Lämsa since the stabbing scene.

According to the organizer, Lämsä threatened him with a knife in his hand to stop following.

– He said that I will get stabbed next, the warden recalled in court.

The organizer used a gas nebulizer in the situation, but Lämsä continued to advance.

A little later, the law enforcement officer managed to stop Lämsä on the slope of the Kivisydän parking facility on Hallituskatu.

According to the prosecutor, Lämsä was guilty of an illegal threat in the situation. Lämsä denies this.

There is no sound in the surveillance camera recordings, so the threatening words used in the situation are only the police officer’s report.

A special narrative

According to the prosecutor, Lämsä’s act had a racist motive. The victim of the stabbing and the boy pursued by Lämsä are from foreign backgrounds.

According to the prosecutor, the fact that Lämsä did not pay attention to the third member of the party also told about the motive. He doesn’t look like he’s from a foreign background.

According to Lämsa’s assistant, it was not about this, but about the fact that the third member was female.

Lämsä’s assistant said that Lämsä had long lived imagining that a foreign intelligence service was following him, reading his thoughts and sharing them in secret online chats.

Lämsä had reportedly thought that the group was aware of the information about him and was therefore nervous.

Lämsä has been imprisoned since June 17. His state of mind has been ordered for examination.

Far right background

Lämsä has a background in the neo-Nazi Nordic Resistance Movement (PVL), which was abolished by the Supreme Court’s decision in 2020.

He has been convicted of several crimes connected to the extreme right. In 2013, he was involved in a stabbing at the library in Jyväskylä, where an event about the book “Extreme Right in Finland” was taking place.

Lämsä was convicted of a library stabbing and a left-wing activist Dan to Birivulaakso for a pepper gas attack on him to a suspended sentence of one and a half years.

Just less than a week after the first stabbing, there was also a second stabbing in shopping center Valkea. At the time, a 15-year-old boy stabbed a man of foreign origin, unknown to him, from behind.

The police have also suspected a racist motive in this case. The stabber was wearing a t-shirt referring to the forces of Nazi Germany and a knife patterned with swastikas.

Iltalehti exceptionally publishes the suspect’s name even before the verdict due to the seriousness of the act and the man’s previous serious criminal background.