[align=left] <H3>Section 11 (repealed)

Section 12 (792/1989)


(1) In this Act public official means:
  • (1) a person who is in the service of, or in a corresponding employment relationship with, one of the following; the state, a municipality, a federation of municipalities, another organ of municipal co-operation, the Evangelical Lutheran church, the Greek Orthodox church, a congregation of one of the said churches, an organ of congregational co-operation, the Province of &#197;land, the Bank of Finland, the Social Insurance Institution, another independent state institution, the Institute of Occupational Health, the Pensions Institute of Local Authorities and the Commission for Local Authority Employers;
    (2) a municipal councillor, another member of a representative body of a public corporation mentioned in subparagraph (1), elected in a general election, except for a Member of Parliament in his/her parliamentary duties, as well as a member of an organ, e.g. a municipal executive board, panel, board of directors, committee, board and advisory board, of a public corporation or institution mentioned in subparagraph (1), and another elected official of a public corporation or institution mentioned in subparagraph (1); and
    (3) a person who on the basis of an Act, a Decree or an order based on an Act or Decree exercises public authority in a corporation other than those mentioned in subparagraph (1), and a person, who elsewhere exercises public authority on the said basis.
(2) In this Act employee of a public corporation means a person who is employed under contract by a public corporation or institution mentioned in paragraph (1)(1).
Section 13 (352/1990)


(1) If a prisoner, while in a penitentiary or otherwise under the supervision of a prison authority, commits an offence that according to the general law would be punished by a fine, he/she shall be subjected to a disciplinary punishment within the institution, as separately provided. If the offence is deemed to require a more severe punishment than a fine, charges against the offender shall be brought before a court.
(2) If a person referred to in paragraph (1) is sentenced by a court for an offence, the disciplinary punishment for which he/she has served completely or partially, the sentence shall be subject to a reasonable reduction, unless there are justifiable grounds for not reducing the sentence of for considering the disciplinary punishment a full punishment for the act.
(3) If a prisoner commits an offence outside of an institution, charges against him/her shall be brought before a court. Section 14 (repealed)

Section 14a (578/1995)


A person sentenced for treason or high treason, or sentenced to imprisonment for another offence for at least two years, shall be sentenced to forfeit his/her military rank, unless such forfeiture, with regard to the nature of the offence, its causes and effects and the other consequences of the loss of military rank to the offender, is to be deemed unreasonable. (578/1995) Section 15


(1) The times to be determined on the basis of this Code by the year or month shall be counted by the calendar. A day shall equal 24 hours.
(2) (repealed) Section 16 (143/1932)


(1) The financial benefit of the offence to the offender or to the person whom he/she has been acting for or on behalf of shall be estimated at the discretion of the court and declared forfeited regardless of whether charges have been brought against the person whom the offender has been acting for.
(2) If the offence is habitual or professional, the amount to be declared forfeited shall be estimated taking the scope of the criminal activity into account as a whole.
(3) If an offence has been committed, an object or property which belongs to the offender or to the person whom he/she has been acting for or on behalf of and which was used in the commission of the offence or which was solely or primarily prepared or procured for the commission of the offence, may be declared forfeited even if such a sanction is not specifically provided for the offence.
(4) The amount forfeited and the value of the object or property which the court has declared forfeited without ordering the object or property to be destroyed shall pass to the state. However, any damages that cannot be collected from the offender shall be taken from the value of the object or the property. An action for such damages shall be brought within one year of the date when the judgment declaring the object or the property forfeited became final. When an object or property is declared forfeited by virtue of paragraph (3), also a person who has in good faith obtained a mortgage, lien or attachment to the object or the property, as security for a debt, shall receive payment from the value of said object or property, regardless of whether the debt has become due; however, an action for such payment shall be brought within the period referred to above, under threat of annulment of the mortgage, lien or attachment. (413/1974)
(5) Separate provisions apply to the retention of the forfeited object or property, as such, for the state, at the same time rendering the state liable for the damages or debt referred to in paragraph (4). Section 17


If the contents of a publication, document or pictorial presentation are declared to be offensive, the copies in the possession of the author, publisher, editor, producer, distributor, exhibitor or seller, as well as the plates and the patterns which are solely intended for the production of said product, regardless of their ownership, shall be declared forfeited and rendered unusable. If only a part of the said product is found to be offensive and if it can easily be separated from the other parts, only the offending part and the corresponding plates and patterns are to be declared forfeited and rendered unusable. Section 18


In certain cases also sanctions other than those referred to here shall be used, as separately provided in this Code. Chapter 3 Vindication and mitigation

Section 1 (263/1940)


(1) An act which is otherwise punishable shall remain unpunished when committed by a child younger than fifteen years of age.
(2) The measures that can be applied to such a child are provided in the Child Protection Act. Section 2 (613/1974)


A person who is fifteen but not yet eighteen years of age and commits an offence shall be sentenced, when said offence may be punishable by life imprisonment, to imprisonment for at least two and at most twelve years. If the punishment in the provision in question is a fixed term of imprisonment or a fine, the sentence shall be at most three fourths of the most severe punishment provided and at least the minimum punishment provided in chapter 2. Section 3


(1) An act of an insane person and an act by a person mentally deficient due to senility or another similar reason shall remain unpunished.
(2) If someone is temporarily deranged so that he/she is not in possession of his/her mental faculties, an act that he/she commits while in such a condition shall also remain unpunished. Section 4


(1) If someone is regarded as not having been in full possession of his/her mental faculties at the time he/she committed an offence, but he/she cannot be regarded as totally irresponsible in accordance with section 3, the general punishment shall be that provided in section 2.
(2) In this case the state of voluntary intoxication or other such self-induced mental aberration shall not by itself be a reason for such reduction of punishment. Section 5


(1) An act which is regarded as having occurred more through accident than through negligence shall not be punishable.
(2) If the penalty provision contains a specific minimum for imprisonment, the court may, unless the public interest demands otherwise, and for special reasons which are to be mentioned in the judgment, pass a sentence shorter than the minimum period or, when no punishment more severe than a fixed term of imprisonment is provided, pass a sentence of a fine. (613/1974)
(3) A court can waive the punishment in cases where
  • (1) the offence, when assessed as a whole, considering its harmfulness and the degree of culpability of the offender indicated by it, is to be deemed of minor significance;
    (2) the offence is to be deemed excusable because of special reasons concerning the act or the offender;
    (3) punishment is to be deemed unreasonable or pointless, considering the action taken by the offender to prevent or remove the effects of his/her offence, or to further its being cleared up, his/her personal circumstances, the other consequences of the offence to him/her, the actions by the social security and health authorities, or other circumstances; or
    (4) the offence would not have an essential effect on the total sentence owing to the provisions on the concurrence of offences. (302/1990)
(4) In addition of the provisions in paragraph (3), a court can waive the punishment for an offence committed while the offender was under 18 years of age, if the act is deemed to be the result of his/her thoughtlessness or imprudence rather than his/her being heedless of the prohibitions and commands of law. (302/1990)
Section 6


If someone has committed an act to protect himself/herself or another or his/her or another’s property against an ongoing or imminent unlawful attack, and this act, though otherwise punishable, was necessary for the repelling of the attack, he/she shall not be sentenced to a punishment for such self-defence. Section 7


Self-defence shall also be justified when someone forces his/her way unlawfully into the room, house, estate or vessel of another, or when someone caught in the act resists another who is trying to take back his/her own property. Section 8 (621/1967)


(1) Where a person who has been assigned to maintain public order meets resistance in the performance of his/her duty, he/she shall be entitled to use such forcible measures that can be deemed justified in view of the nature of the duty, the seriousness of the resistance and the other circumstances prevailing in the situation. (496/1995)
(2) When a person being apprehended, arrested or detained attempts to avoid capture by resisting or escaping, or when a prisoner or another person apprehended, arrested or detained attempts to escape or resists the prison guard or other person who is assigned to prevent escape or keep him in order, the use of forcible measures shall also be allowed so as to capture the aforesaid, to prevent the escape, or to keep order, when these measures can be justified in view of the circumstances. The same applies when the resisting person is someone other than the aforesaid person.
(3) When someone has the right, according to paragraph (1) or (2), to use forcible measures, those assisting in the official function shall also have this right.
(4) Also a person who has apprehended another person by virtue of chapter 1, section 1 of the Coercive Measures Act shall have the right, as referred to above, to use forcible measures, if meeting resistance. (496/1995)
(5) (repealed) Section 8a (321/1983)

(1) A soldier who is on duty as a sentry, in the day detail or as military police and who meets resistance shall have the right to use such forcible measures as can be deemed justified in view of the security of the military unit or the object being guarded or otherwise in view of the nature of the duty or service and the seriousness of the resistance. On the grounds mentioned above a sentry shall have the right to use forcible measures also if someone, despite a command to stop, approaches a guarded area to which entry is prohibited.
(2) If in combat, distress at sea or in another similar situation that is especially dangerous to the military unit or its functioning, and despite the prohibition of a superior officer, a subordinate deserts, violently resists his/her superior officer or does not obey an order that a superior officer has given to repel the danger, even though this order was repeated, the superior officer shall have the right to use such forcible measures against the subordinate to achieve obedience and discipline as can be considered justified in view of the seriousness of the act of the subordinate and also otherwise in view of the situation.
(3) Should a prisoner of war attempt to escape, the person who is assigned to prevent an escape shall have the right to use the forcible measures referred to in section 8(2).
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