Ex-Finnish PM cleared of obtaining papers

A Helsinki court has acquitted Finland's first woman prime minister of charges related to the leaking of secret documents on …

A Helsinki court has acquitted Finland's first woman prime minister of charges related to the leaking of secret documents on Iraq.

The court cleared Ms Anneli Jaatteenmaki of inciting or assisting the breach of official secrets. The scandal had forced her to step down last year.

Prosecutors said Ms Jaatteenmaki repeatedly asked Manninen for information on US-Finland talks on Iraq involving her predecessor, Mr Paavo Lipponen, data that was later used to help her Centre Party win parliamentary elections in March 2003.

Ms Jaatteenmaki denied this and the court said the allegation was not proved during the two-day trial this month, parts of which were broadcast on Finnish television and drew hundreds of thousands of viewers.

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The court ruled that Martti Manninen, a former presidential aide who sent hundreds of pages of information to Ms Jaatteenmaki by fax, be fined €3,600.

"There was no evidence shown that Ms Jaatteenmaki would have incited Manninen's crime," the court said in its decision.

Ms Jaatteenmaki said:   "Hopefully this solution is the end of a long, tormenting process."  The prosecutor's office said it would decide next week on whether to appeal.

Despite the scandal Ms Jaatteenmaki remains a popular politician and she will stand for European Parliament elections in June, one year after she stepped down as head of Finland's shortest sitting non-caretaker government for almost 60 years.