Finnish prosecutors on Friday said that separatist agitator, Simon Ekpa, has been charged with inciting terrorism online.
A statement by the Finland’s National Prosecution Authority disclosed this, stating that the NPA had charged “a Finnish individual in a case involving suspected public incitement to commit crimes with terrorist intent and participation in the activities of a terrorist group.”
This is coming just as the prosecution authority said the prosecutor had decided to drop charges against four others in the case due to a lack of evidence.
It stated that the alleged crimes had been committed in the city of Lahti between 2021 and 2024 and were related to the suspect’s efforts to establish Nigeria’s Biafra region as an independent state.
The prosecution authority did not name the accused but Finnish public broadcaster YLE identified him as separatist leader Simon Ekpa.
Ekpa, a self-styled leader of the Biafra Republic’s government in exile, was arrested and detained in November, 2024.
According to the prosecution authority, the accused remained in custody and denied the charges.
The dual Finnish-Nigerian national has also been a local representative for Finland’s conservative National Coalition Party in the city of Lahti, north of Helsinki, where he has served on a public transport committee.