Mikkeli hostage crisis

1986 Mikkeli hostage crisis
Location Helsinki, Finland
Mikkeli, Finland
Date August 8-9, 1986
Attack type
 bank robbery
hostage taking
Weapons sawed-off shotgun
explosive charge
Deaths 2 (including the perpetrator)
Victims 12 hostages
Perpetrator Jorma Takala

The Mikkeli hostage crisis or Jakomäki bank robbery took place on 8th-9th August 1986, which ended dramatically in an explosion at the edge of Mikkeli Market, on Maaherrankatu near the crossroads of Raatihuoneenkatu. Helsinki-based Jorma Kalevi Takala (born July 11, 1950 in Liperi) took over three hostages in Helsinki in an bank robbery with whom he traveled by car to Mikkeli Market. The event ended when Takala blow up his car and himself and hostage driver Jukka Häkkinen (born May 13, 1961) in Mikkeli Market. This was an unprecedented crime in Finland's conditions and in its final solution. In the case of post-clearance reviews, the authorities were subjected to exceptionally harsh criticism.

Events

The events began on August 8, when a man armed with a sawed-off shotgun and an explosive charge entered the Kansallis-Osake-Pankki bank in Jakomäki, Helsinki. He took 12 people who were in the bank as his hostages. After receiving 2.5 million Finnish marks and a getaway car in exchange for the hostages' lives, he left the bank with two female hostages and one male hostage. He forced the male hostage to drive the car. They drove to Mikkeli where they parked on a market place. The police surrounded the car and tried to negotiate with the hostage taker. Eventually the police advised the hostages to leave the car. Both female hostages escaped and after that the police started to shoot at the car. The hostage taker exploded the car, killing both himself and the male hostage.[1][2]

Aftermath

The police received much criticism for its handling of the hostage crisis. Nobody knew who gave the order to shoot at the car and initially none of the police commanders took the responsibility for the operation.[2] However, after an investigation by the National Bureau of Investigation, Chancellor of Justice Jorma S. Aalto decided not to prosecute the police officers for the events.[1] In 1993, the Supreme Court of Finland convicted one police officer who had participated in the operation of negligent homicide and fined him 6.000 mk.[3]

References

  1. 1 2 Gummerus (1987). Vuosisatamme kronikka. Page 1218. ISBN 951-20-2893-X
  2. 1 2 Otava (1986). Mitä Missä Milloin 1987. Page 96. ISBN 951-1-08999-4
  3. ↑ Supreme Court resolution 1993:50 Finlex. Retrieved January 3, 2017.
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