Police fired constable who organized gathering for Ukrainian Azov battalion

The dismissed policeman was a member of the far-right Whatsapp group. An investigation is currently underway against the members of this group, which should be completed this fall.

The Eastern Uusimaa police have suspended the third police officer, who was suspected of having links with right-wing circles. His name surfaced while investigating an entire right-wing group that discussed massacres and malfeasance.

According to Yle, five police officers, one police station guard and seven others are suspects in the case. Police officers work or have worked in Helsinki, Eastern Uusimaa and Central Finland. Two metropolitan police officers have already been fired earlier.

The third dismissed, the senior constable of the Eastern Uusimaa police, in 2018, at the request of one of the members of the group created in the WhatsApp application, without reason checked the person’s details in the police register and passed them on to the applicant. The person to be found in the register was filming a group member and his car in front of the police station.

The dismissed constable believes that he had a basis for verification. During interrogation, he said that at that time there was a wave of burglaries among the owners of weapons. As a member of the WhatsApp group contacted the police about carrying a weapon, it was suspected that the filmmaker was planning to infiltrate his home. was thoughtless. The police register may only be used for the performance of direct official duties.

Although no charges were filed, the East Uusimaa police considered the constable’s misconduct to be extremely serious. According to the authorities, this raised doubts that the police were doing their job properly. The man whose identity the constable was checking had no records in the criminal register. The police also asked the prosecutor’s office to reconsider the issue of bringing charges against the dismissed.

According to the materials of the preliminary investigation In November 2018, the WhatsApp group actively discussed Ukraine and the Azov volunteer battalion operating in the east of the country, which is considered ultranationalist. The battalion is called upon to help the Ukrainian military in the fight against the separatists.

The dismissed policeman said that he knew a Finnish man who had connections with Ukrainians. Finn was going to go to the aid of his Ukrainian friends who suffered from the annexation of Crimea. The constable wanted to help him and donated his telescopic sight for use.

– I wanted to support not the activities of “Azov”, but just a friend who found himself in a difficult situation, – said the constable during interrogation.

The police concluded that on the basis of the correspondence, the dismissed coordinator coordinated the collection of money and belongings for the battalion members. On December 14, 2018, he sent the following private messages to a member of the WhatsApp group:

Hi. I will not write this to the group, because not everyone likes it. I am collecting help for Ukraine, for volunteers. I myself gave my scope to the Vortex Viper PST. They lack a lot, first of all, optics, night vision binoculars, etc. Money will not be superfluous either.

Do you think you and your buddy will be able to convey something? Everything will be delivered with a 100% guarantee, no mediation fees, no shipping fees, etc.

Yes, and shhh. About me nowhere to mention. I only deal with the collection and delivery.

During the interrogation, the constable stated that the collection was not carried out in the end. Despite this, the police considered that the support of one of the parties to the military conflict did not correspond to the ethics of police conduct.