The Päijät-Häme District Court in Finland, on Monday, sentenced controversial Biafra agitator, Simon Ekpa, to six years in prison after finding him guilty of terrorism-related charges.
The court ruled that Mr Ekpa had participated in a terrorist organisation and had publicly incited crimes for terrorist purposes, Yle, a Finnish newspaper, reported on Monday.
Delivering judgment, the court held that Mr Ekpa had used his significant social media following to stoke tensions in the “Biafra region” between August 2021 and November 2024.
Biafra is a name often used by Mr Ekpa and other separatist groups in Nigeria to refer to Nigeria’s South-east and some parts of the country’s South-south.
The Finnish court also ruled that Mr Ekpa was an influential member of a Biafran separatist movement, which established armed groups aimed at bringing about Biafran independence by force.
It further held that Mr Ekpa had supplied these groups with weapons, explosives, and ammunition through his network of contacts in the region, and he was also found to have encouraged his followers on his X handle to commit crimes in Nigeria.
The court also ruled that Mr Ekpa committed the offences from Lahti, a city in Finland where he stays, and argued that the implication was that the court had jurisdiction in the case.
Tax fraud conviction
Apart from terrorism, the Finnish court also convicted Mr Ekpa of “aggravated tax fraud,” the newspaper reported.
The district court’s verdict is not final because the ruling can be appealed at a higher court.
