Drug squad ex-chief Jari Aarnio was put in pretrial custody in November, 2013 over allegations of drug trafficking, bribery and dozens of other offenses. Today, both Finnish top tabloids run stories on an incident in the Vantaa Prison on Tuesday, despite Aarnio’s being housed in strict solitary confinement for nearly a year.
Ilta-Sanomat reports that a fellow prisoner in Aarnio’s isolation block assaulted the ex-chief by kicking him forcibly in the ribs. Aarnio’s lawyer corroborates the incident, the daily says.
The prison’s vice-chief Jaakko Jokinen also confirms that an assault took place, but is mum on the official identity of the victim or the extent of the injuries involved – saying only that a case of assault and battery is currently being investigated at the Vantaa Prison. Whether the incident will make it to the courts or be dealt with by the prison internally is yet to be determined, the Ilta-Sanomat article states.
Iltalehti also carries a piece on the Aarnio attack, beside a spread on Finnish defence spending. The military piece runs with the title, “Where to get seven billion euros?” A governmental probe headed by the National Coalition Party’s Ilkka Kanerva reports that the country’s military needs 150 million euros more to top up its capabilities.
Defence Minister Carl Haglund states in the paper that, in addition to the materiel budget increase planned up to 2020, an additional “minimum” of six billion euros will be needed to bring the country’s air force and navy up to snuff.
Local upgrades in Tampere and Helsinki
Other top stories also involve a new architectural win for the new design for the Tammela sports stadium in Tampere, which plans to nestle the 6,000-seater stadium into a residential area.
“Something that’s never been done before,” architectural juror Risto Huttunen tells Aamulehti this morning.
An additional two million euros will be used by the city of Tampere for an overhaul of its home field, Ratina. Covering a third playing field in nearby Valkeakoski with artificial turf will also cost half a million, 142,000 euros of which comes from state funding.
Meanwhile in the capital, the neighbourhood of Myllypuro in eastern Helsinki is set to bring in a tide of new residents and businesses, according to Helsingin Sanomat. A brand new student campus is being planned for 2018. Vocational school students – and ordinary Myllypuro residents – could benefit greatly from the new arrangement.
“If the city council supports the idea, we’ll be able to start construction in spring 2016,” says the campus area’s project leader Tarja Lehto.
Helsinki’s student housing concern Hoas also hopes to build three new residential buildings, to open simultaneously with the gleaming new campus.
Swedish actor masters Finnish
In cultural news, the new film Vadelmavenepakolainen (“Raspberry Boat Refugee”) hits Finnish theatres tomorrow. The film, directed by Leif Lindblom and based on the novel by Miika Nousiainen, is about cultural heritage and the feeling of being born into the wrong country.
Finland’s biggest Swedish-language paper Hufvudstadsbladet runs a headline on the film’s star, Jonas Karlsson, and his affinity for Finland and the Finnish language. The headline states that Karlsson has learned fluent Finnish and is a fennophile, visiting Helsinki regularly with his family.
The actor says he sympathises with the film’s premise of longing for a new, truer identity.
“If I’d been born American and spoken English I probably would’ve landed in Hollywood,” he jokes in the HBL interview.
