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The Court of Appeal has upheld the decision by Päijät-Häme District Court last year to find Simon Ekpa guilty of terrorism-related charges, Yle, a Finnish online newspaper reported on Thursday.
However, the appeal court reduced the amount of time Ekpa will spend behind bars from six years to four.
Ekpa, who moved to Finland from his native Nigeria in 2007, was found by the district court to have participated in a terrorist organisation and to have publicly incited crimes for terrorist purposes.
The charges related to Ekpa’s alleged activities aimed at re-establishing an independent state in the Biafra region of southeastern Nigeria, which was briefly independent in the late 1960s.
In its verdict, the district court said that Ekpa had used his significant social media following to stoke tensions in the region between August 2021 and November 2024.
Ekpa appealed this ruling, and although the Court of Appeal found him guilty of the same offences, it reduced the severity of his sentence because it took into consideration the circumstances surrounding his actions — noting that the current situation in the Biafra region closely resembled, but did not meet the definition of, a civil war.
Ekpa had argued in court that, because of the political turmoil in Biafra, his involvement was not carried out with terrorist intent.
The prosecutor in the case had also lodged an appeal against the district court’s decision, arguing the amount of prison time did not reflect the seriousness of Ekpa’s offences.
The 41-year-old Ekpa is a long-term resident of Lahti and once served on the city’s council, representing the National Coalition Party.
The court of appeal’s verdict is not final, meaning it can be appealed to a higher court.
