REUTERS-A Finnish
member of a neo-Nazi group was sentenced on Friday to two years in jail after
the death of a 28-year-old man he had assaulted during a
demonstration in
Helsinki.
The Finnish
national had stopped in front of the group in September and spat on the ground.
A member of the group, Jesse Torniainen, kicked the man in the chest and he
fell to the ground and hit his head.
Helsinki
district court heard the man spent the following days in hospital but then left
against the advice of doctors and used narcotics. He died six days after the
assault.
Torniainen
admitted assault but denied he had caused the man's death.
The court
dropped charges of aggravated manslaughter, concluding it was unclear whether
the man's own actions had contributed to his death.
The prosecutor
said she would likely appeal the verdict.
Torniainen,
26, is a member of the Nordic Resistance Movement, a far-right group the
Finnish intelligence service says aims to create a national socialist state.
Police have said they will file a lawsuit to shut down the movement.
Anti-immigrant
sentiment has been on the rise in Finland, a country of 5.5 million where about
32,000 migrants and refugees arrived last year.
REUTERS
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