"Helsinki District Court began hearings in a case Thursday in which a 22 year-old man is charged with planning to explode a homemade bomb on a crowded central Helsinki street during 2018 New Year's Eve celebrations," reported YLE.
"The prosecutor in the case says that the accused planned an attack on crowds which would include 'many foreigners and Muslims'. According to the charges, the defendant carried out a test of an explosive device before being arrested in October 2018," said YLE, though it did not mention the accused's name or nationality.
However, newspaper Iltalehti goes into more detail, saying the accused is a Latvian citizen with strong neo-Nazi sympathies, as became obvious in the police investigation of the case with Helsinki police providing pictures of neo-Nazi items found during searches.
The accused spoke to the court to protest his innocence, with the help of a Russian language interpreter, Iltalehti repoted. Prosecutors have asked for a two year prison sentence. The case continues.
Finnish media reported, in translterated form, that the accused's name was "Arturs Aispurs" or similar.
News portal News Now Finland also reported on the case in English.
Later on Friday the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs told LSM's Russian language service it was aware of the case, but has not received a request for consular assistance from the accused or his relatives.
