Founder of Finnish anti-immigration website to be extradited from Andorra

HELSINKI, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Ilja Janitsikin, founder of the controversial Finnish internet publication MV-lehti, will be extradited from Andorra to Finland, Finnish Ministry of Justice confirmed on Wednesday.

Janitsikin was detained in absence by a Finnish court in 2016, but had traveled to Spain and later Andorra. Finnish Ministry of Justice told media that extradition is usually carried out within 30 days.

Janitsikin is suspected of tens of crimes in Finland, including instigation against a population group, aggravated libel and copyright infringements. The MV-lehti has a strong anti-immigration flavor.

Established in 2014, the publication attracted a huge following in Finland.

Newspaper Helsingin Sanomat recently analysed its use and concluded that its articles were consumed worth 18 million pages in January 2016 alone. This is more than a large regional paper in Finland normally attains. MV-lehti received 1.4 million Facebook likes within the last two years.

The popularity of the site later plummeted and Janitski shut down the site at the end of last year. He told Finnish media from his house arrest in Andorra that he was fed up with the internal skirmishes of the Finnish anti-immigration scene. Janitski said a possible new owner could relaunch the service. Enditem