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Finnish police to request European arrest warrant for anti-immigrant website founder

Xinhua, September 29, 2016 Adjust font size:

Finnish police is set to request a European arrest warrant for the founder of MV-lehti, an anti-immigrant news website, Finnish national broadcaster Yle reported on Wednesday.

MV-lehti is a Finnish language extreme right-wing website founded in Spain in 2014. Its founder Ilja Janitskin is a Finn, who is believed to live in Barcelona, Spain.

Finnish police want to summon Janitskin, who is suspected of a series of wrongdoings connected to the website, to return to Finland for interrogation.

Yle reported that the Helsinki prosecutor's office will ask Helsinki District Court to issue an arrest warrant in absentia for the suspect on Friday.

"Police would like to interview him as part of this preliminary investigation, but Janitskin is not willing to come to Finland," Heikki Wendorf, Helsinki District Prosecutor, was quoted by Yle as saying.

Janitskin is a former member of the Bandidos motorcycle gang with an extensive criminal record. He is suspected of crimes including incitement against ethnic groups, aggravated slander, crime concealment, illegal fundraising and many others, according to Yle.

MV-lehti was alleged of publishing incendiary, racist and erroneous articles, gaining a wide following in Finland since an increasing number of asylum seekers began arriving in Europe in mid-2014.

In January this year, a group of Finnish political and student youth organizations demanded to launch an investigation into MV-Lehti. Soon after, the Helsinki prosecutor's office handed over the request to the Helsinki Police Department.

After completing a preliminary investigation, police will decide whether or not to transfer the case to the prosecutor for consideration of charges. Endit