A court in Finland has sentenced an 18-year-old former student to two years in prison after finding him guilty of carrying out a racially motivated knife attack against two students of immigrant background at a vocational college in Espoo.
The Western Uusimaa District Court convicted the man, from the city of Vantaa, of attempted aggravated assault, assault and making unlawful threats over the attack at Live Vocational College in Leppävaara on September 29, 2025. The ruling is not yet final and may be appealed.
The court, however, dismissed a separate charge of preparing a serious offence against life or health, ruling that prosecutors had failed to prove the defendant intended to carry out a broader mass attack beyond the two students he targeted.
According to the court, the attacker travelled to the college by bus carrying a 17-centimetre kitchen knife after spending the previous evening viewing extremist material, including content related to Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik, as well as violent videos.
After arriving on campus, he concealed the knife inside his sleeve, photographed himself holding the weapon and entered a third-floor common room where he attacked two 17-year-old students of immigrant background.
The court heard that the defendant kicked one student and attempted to stab him twice but failed to make contact. He then assaulted a second student by kicking him, swinging the knife in his direction and pushing him against a table. Judges found there was insufficient evidence to conclude he intended to stab the second victim.
Both students managed to escape without sustaining life-threatening injuries.
The attacker reportedly chased one of the victims before staff members intervened in a stairwell. Surveillance footage presented during the trial showed the defendant making a Nazi salute before voluntarily handing over the knife.
The court ruled that the attack was premeditated, unprovoked and motivated by racism, describing the discriminatory motive as an aggravating factor in determining the sentence.
Investigators also recovered a manifesto from the defendant’s computer in which he expressed hatred toward immigrants, left-wing supporters, transgender people and gay people. The document outlined intentions to injure or kill multiple people before surrendering to police and criticized the college for what he claimed was its support for immigrants.
Although the manifesto demonstrated that the defendant had considered carrying out a larger attack, the court concluded there was insufficient evidence that he attempted to implement those wider plans once inside the school.
Judges noted that the defendant had opportunities to attack other students and staff but did not do so, making it impossible to prove beyond reasonable doubt that he intended or was capable of carrying out the broader violence described in his writings.
A psychiatric assessment found the defendant to be criminally responsible at the time of the offence.
As a first-time offender with no previous criminal convictions, the defendant has already spent approximately nine months in pre-trial detention, exceeding the custodial period he would ordinarily serve under the sentence imposed. He is therefore expected to be released.
The case has renewed discussion in Finland about violent extremism, hate crimes and the growing influence of online radicalization among young people.
