The suspect is 33-year-old Sebastian Lämsä, a former key member of a banned neo-Nazi group, according to information obtained by Yle. Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said that a man who is suspected of stabbing and seriously wounding a 12-year-old in Oulu on Thursday has a background of far-right extremism. According to information obtained by Yle, the suspect is 33-year-old Sebastian Lämsä, a former key member of a banned neo-Nazi group, the Nordic Resistance Movement (PVL). The stabbing took place in the city’s downtown shopping centre Valkea on Thursday at 6:36pm, according to local authorities. The 12-year-old victim is Finnish but has a foreign background, according to the NBI. On Thursday police said the victim’s injuries were serious but not life-threatening. The suspect, who is in his thirties, was apprehended by police outside the shopping centre after the incident. He is suspected of two attempted murders, according to authorities. The man is also suspected of trying to stab another person but this attempt was unsuccessful, Ari Soronen of the NBI’s Oulu unit said. The suspect, Sebastian Lämsä, has previously been convicted of violent crimes and has a background in right-wing extremism, including belonging to the neo-Nazi group PVL, which has since been banned in Finland. In 2012, Lämsä pepper sprayed Left Alliance politician Dan Koivulaakso in the face during a Pride event in Oulu. Then in 2013, Lämsä was convicted on a number of charges after being found guilty of stabbing a person at a library in Jyväskylä, during an event about the spread of far right groups. In that case, Lämsä was handed a one-and-a-half year suspended prison sentence, for crimes including aggravated assault, assault and unlawful political activity. Two other people affiliated with PVL attempted to enter the library during the event, and Lämsä was later found guilty of stabbing a person who tried to stop them. The court found that Lämsä had initiated the violence. According to Yle’s information, Lämsä was also suspected of endangering health and safety offences, in a case related to a two-kilogram package addressed to him that may have contained explosives.
via yle: Yle sources – Suspect in Oulu child stabbing is far-right extremist