Finland’s Court of Appeal has reduced Simon Ekpa’s six-year jail term to four years.
PREMIUM TIMES reported that the Päijät-Häme District Court in Finland, last year, sentenced Mr Ekpa to six years in prison after finding him guilty of terrorism-related charges.
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In addition to terrorism, the Finnish court also convicted Mr Ekpa of “aggravated tax fraud”.
But Mr Ekpa appealed the judgement to a higher court.
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Ruling on Thursday, the appeal court upheld the decision by Päijät-Häme District Court which found the Biafra agitator guilty of terrorism.
The appeal court, however, reduced the six-year jail term imposed on the convict to four years, Yle, a Finnish newspaper, reported.
Another Finnish online newspaper, Helsinki Times, reported that the court found Mr Ekpa participated in activities of a terrorist group and publicly incited criminal acts for terrorist purposes.
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Ekpa’s defence and reduction of jail term
Mr Ekpa’s six-year jail term was reduced after the court examined the circumstances surrounding the conflict in south-east Nigeria linked to his charges.
During his appeal, Mr Ekpa argued that south-eastern Nigeria was experiencing an internal armed conflict and that international humanitarian law, rather than Finnish terrorism legislation, should govern his actions, Helsinki Times reported.
The Biafra agitator submitted evidence concerning the organisation of armed groups, their weapons and the Nigerian government’s military operations.
The appeal court examined whether the fighting met the legal threshold for an internal armed conflict, drawing comparisons with international tribunal assessments of the Balkan Wars.
The trial judges acknowledged that the weapons and equipment used by Nigerian government forces and the armed groups under Mr Ekpa’s command indicated conditions resembling an internal armed conflict.
However, the judges concluded that “the intensity and frequency” of the fighting did not meet the threshold required under international case law.
The court found that attacks occurred intermittently and primarily targeted police stations and road checkpoints.
It also found insufficient evidence that Mr Ekpa’s forces possessed the operational capacity to sustain prolonged military campaigns.
The newspaper reported that the absence of reports documenting substantial civilian displacement from the affected areas further weakened the argument that the conflict amounted to a civil war.
Despite rejecting Mr Ekpa’s central defence, the court found that the circumstances surrounding his offences resembled those in civil war, self-defence, and necessity.
The court found those circumstances sufficient to justify reducing the jail term while upholding the lower court’s terrorism convictions.
The newspaper reported that the latest judgement is not yet final. Mr Ekpa and the prosecution can seek permission to appeal to Finland’s Supreme Court.
Arrest and prosecution
Mr Ekpa, 41, was arrested alongside four others on 21 November 2024 on suspicion of terrorist activities.
The Finnish police said Mr Ekpa “has contributed to violence and crimes against civilians in South-eastern Nigeria.”
The District Court of Päijät-Häme later ordered that the pro-Biafra agitator be imprisoned “with probable cause on suspicion of public incitement to commit a crime with terrorist intent.”
A Nigerian-Finnish citizen, Mr Ekpa, heads Autopilot, a faction of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
IPOB is a group agitating for an independent state of Biafra, which it wants carved out of Nigeria’s South-east and parts of the South-South.
The separatist group has been linked to some deadly attacks in the two regions, although it has repeatedly denied its involvement in the attacks.
Meanwhile, hours after the arrest, the IPOB faction loyal to Nnamdi Kanu disowned Mr Ekpa, explaining that the pro-Biafra agitator was never their member.
Mr Ekpa was initially indicted for financing terrorism alongside the four other suspects.
The police suspected the Biafra agitator of collecting money in violation of the Finnish Money Collection Act.
The Finnish police said he allegedly committed the crimes between 23 August 2021 and 18 November 2024 in Lahti, a town in Finland.
However, the four other suspects were later released during the preliminary investigation for lack of evidence against them.
READ ALSO: SPECIAL REPORT: IPOB-linked attacks, killings reduce since Simon Ekpa’s jailing
PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported that the district court had set May 2025 as the deadline for prosecutors to present possible charges against Mr Ekpa.
Mr Ekpa was in mid-May 2025 charged with public incitement to commit a crime with terrorist intent and participation in a terrorist group.
The prosecutor had said the charges were linked to Mr Ekpa’s secessionist activities in “Biafra land.”
In his first appearance in court on 30 May 2025, the Biafra agitator denied the terrorism charges.
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