Vindicated Finnish woman to be awarded record-high damages

A Finnish woman who was cleared of murdering her husband will be awarded the highest ever damages in the country, Finnish media reported on Thursday.

Finnish daily Ilta-Sanomat reported 51-year-old Anneli Auer would receive 488,800 euros (550,663 U.S. dollars) for emotional distress damages and 57,000 euros for loss of earning.

The daily said the compensation for emotional distress was the highest in Finnish criminal history.

Auer's husband was murdered at their family home in Ulvila, western Finland, in December 2006. The murderer still remains unknown, according to media reports.

Auer had been suspected of killing her husband. In December 2013, she was sentenced to life imprisonment by Satakunta District Court.

Auer appealed, and the Vaasa Court of Appeal found in February 2015 she was not guilty of murder, and she was released in mid-2015 after serving 611 days in prison.

Auer's lawyer Juha Manner told Finnish national broadcaster Yle he was not totally satisfied with the compensation decision.

He said the ruling did not sufficiently take into account the degree of damages imposed by media coverage and imprisonment to his client. Auer may appeal to a district court, he said.

The case, together with its dramatic details, has become a hot topic in Finnish media for nearly a decade. Endit