MV-lehti editor extradited to Finland

MV-lehti Chief Editor Ilja Janitskin was extradited to Finland from Andorra, Spain in the early hours of Saturday, reported the national broadcaster Yle quoting the police.

He is now in Helsinki police custody waiting for trial.

Next week, the Helsinki District Court will decide about his continued detention.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) In August 2017 said Janitskin, founder of the anti-European Union news website was arrested in Andorra.

He has been facing a total of 46 charges including aggravated incitement against an ethnic group, aggravated slander, money laundering, gambling offences, issuing illegal threats, breach of confidentiality, and intellectual property theft.

The District Court of Helsinki in October 2016 issued a warrant for arrest of Janitskin in absentia for founding the nationalist website MV-lehti from his home country Spain.

Janitskin was detained by the Spanish police on October 27, 2016, but he was released after three days.

That time Janitskin was sedated and transported from Barcelona to Madrid for trial with his hands and legs tied.

The MV-lehti is a Finnish language extreme right-wing website founded in Spain in 2014. Its founder Janitskin is a Finn who is believed to live in Barcelona.

Janitskin is a former member of the Bandidos motorcycle gang with an extensive criminal record.

The MV-lehti allegedly published incendiary, racist and erroneous articles, gaining a wide following in Finland since an increasing number of asylum seekers began to arrive in Europe in mid-2014.

In January this year, a group of Finnish political and student and youth organisations demanded to launch an investigation into the MV-lehti. Soon after that, the Helsinki prosecutor’s office handed over the request to the Helsinki Police Department.