The EC race tourists were accused of violating the state border, because they went on a pleasure boat to Russia without going through a border inspection in Finland.
Six businessman was accused this week in the district court of Itä-Uusimaa of state border violation.
Five of the accused had bought a ready-made trip on a pleasure boat from Espoo to St. Petersburg to watch the European football championships in the summer of 2021. The goal was the Huuhkajie, or the Finnish national team, game against Belgium.
The sixth accused was the captain of the boat who had sold the trip.
The boat party did not go through the border inspection in Finland when they left for Russia.
According to a passenger who was a witness, the Russian coast guard stopped the boat on the Russian side and checked the group’s passports and visas. According to him, a customs inspection was also carried out on the Russian side.
Group spent the night in St. Petersburg, but on the way back the Finnish coast guard had stopped the boat off Porvoo, checked the passports and directed the boat to Suomenlinna.
The captain of the boat assured that the boat was on its way to the border inspection in Helsinki, but in the district court’s opinion there was insufficient evidence of this.
However, the boat party had violated the regulations on crossing the border simply because they had failed to go through the border inspection when leaving Finland.
Eventually of the defendants, only the captain of the boat was convicted, as the passengers were deemed not to have had the opportunity to influence the operation of the boat.
The district court was of the opinion that since it was a ready-made trip, the passengers had a justified reason to trust the instructions they received from the captain. According to the court, they did not act intentionally or criminally.
The captain had also told the passengers that he was an experienced tour operator. However, the EC competition trip was the first public trip to Russia that he organized.
The court assessed the intentionality of crossing the border in the case of the captain as well and stated that its characteristic set was met already in the fact that the captain crossed the border without going through a border inspection.
Captain denied his guilt of intentionally crossing the border, but according to the court, as an experienced tour operator and familiar with Russian customs requirements, he should have clarified the content of the border control regulations.
The captain was fined 35 days.
The judgment is not binding. You can appeal the district court’s decision by appealing to the Court of Appeal or by filing a preliminary ruling appeal with the Supreme Court.
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