Decree on the application of chapter 1, section 7 of the Criminal Code (627/1996)

Section 1

(2) Also a punishable attempt of and punishable participation in an offence referred to in subsection 1 is deemed an international offence.

Chapter 1 - Scope of application of the criminal law of Finland

Section 10 - Place of commission

(2) If the offence remains an attempt, it is deemed to have been committed also where, had the offence been completed, the consequence contained in the statutory definition of the offence either would probably have become apparent or would in the opinion of the perpetrator have become apparent.

Chapter 5 – On attempt and complicity

Section 1 – Attempt

(1) An attempt of an offence is punishable only if the attempt has been denoted as punishable in a provision on an intentional offence.

(2) An act has reached the stage of an attempt at an offence when the perpetrator has begun the commission of an offence and brought about the danger that the offence will be completed. An attempt at an offence is involved also when such a danger is not caused, but the fact that the danger is not brought about is due only to coincidental reasons.

(3) In sentencing for an attempt at an offence, the provisions of chapter 6, section 8, subsection 1(2), subsection 2 and subsection 4 apply, unless, pursuant to the criminal provision applicable to the case, the attempt is comparable to a completed act.

Section 2 – Withdrawal from an attempt and elimination of the effects of an offence by the perpetrator

(1) An attempt is not punishable if the perpetrator, on his or her own free will, has withdrawn from the completion of the offence, or otherwise prevented the consequence referred to in the statutory definition of the offence.

(2) If the offence involves several accomplices, the perpetrator, the instigator or the abettor is exempted from liability on the basis of withdrawal from an offence and elimination of the effects of an offence by the perpetrator only if he or she has succeeded in getting also the other participants to desist withdraw from completion of the offence or otherwise been able to prevent the consequence
referred to in the statutory definition of the offence or in another manner has eliminated the effects of his or her own actions on the completion of the offence.

(3) In addition to what is provided in subsections 1 and 2, an attempt is not punishable if the offence is not completed or the consequence referred to in the statutory definition of the offence is not caused for a reason that is independent of the perpetrator, instigator or abettor, but he or she has voluntarily and seriously attempted to prevent the completion of the offence or the causing of the consequence.

(4) If an attempt, pursuant to subsections 1 through 3, is not punishable but at the same time comprises another, completed, offence, such offence is punishable.

Chapter 11 – War crimes and crimes against humanity

Section 1 - Genocide

(2) An attempt is punishable.

Chapter 11 – War crimes and crimes against humanity

Section 3 - Crime against humanity

An attempt is punishable.

Chapter 11 – War crimes and crimes against humanity

Section 4 – Aggravated crime against humanity

(2) An attempt is punishable.

Chapter 11 – War crimes and crimes against humanity

Section 5 - War crime

(3) An attempt is punishable.

Chapter 11 – War crimes and crimes against humanity

Section 6 - Aggravated war crime

(2) An attempt is punishable.

Chapter 11 – War crimes and crimes against humanity

Section 7 - Petty war crime

(2) An attempt is punishable.

Chapter 15 - Offences against the administration of justice

Section 5 - Attempted incitement to a false statement

A person who attempts to incite another person to commit an offence referred to in sections 1 - 3 shall be sentenced for attempted incitement to a false statement to a fine or to imprisonment for at most one year.

Chapter 1 (626/1996)
Scope of application of the criminal law of Finland

Section 10 (626/1996)
Place of commission

If an offence remains an attempt, it is also deemed to have been committed where the consequence specified in the statutory definition of the offence either probably or in the opinion of the perpetrator would have occurred, if the offence had been completed.

Chapter 5 (515/2003)
Attempt and complicity

Section 1 (515/2003)
Attempt

A punishment for an attempt at an offence shall only be imposed if an attempt is punishable under the provision concerning the intentional offence in question.

An act has reached the stage of an attempt at an offence when the perpetrator has begun the commission of the offence and brought about a risk that the offence will be completed. An act also constitutes an attempt at an offence when such a risk does not arise, but this is only due to coincidental reasons.

When determining a punishment for an attempt at an offence, the provisions of chapter 6, section 8, subsection 1, paragraph 2 and subsections 2 and 4 of the same section apply unless an attempt is equated with a completed act under the criminal provision applicable to the case.

Chapter 11 (212/2008)
War crimes and crimes against humanity

Section 1 (212/2008)
Genocide

A person who, for the purpose of entirely or partially destroying a national, ethnical, racial or religious group or another comparable group,

1) kills members of the group,
2) causes serious bodily or mental illness or injuries to members of the group,
3) inflicts on the group conditions of life that can bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part,
4) imposes forcible measures intended to prevent births within the group, or
5) forcibly transfers children from one group to another shall be sentenced for genocide to imprisonment for at least four years or for life.

An attempt is punishable.

Chapter 11 (212/2008)
War crimes and crimes against humanity

Section 3 (212/2008)
Crime against humanity

A person who, as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population,

1) kills or enslaves another person, subjects him or her to trade by making an offer, purchasing, selling or renting, or tortures him or her, or in some other manner causes him or her great suffering or a serious injury or seriously harms his or her health, or destroys people by inflicting on a population or part of it destructive conditions of life or in some other manner,
2) deports or forcibly transfers population lawfully residing in an area,
3) imprisons a person or otherwise deprives him or her of his or her liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law or causes the enforced disappearance of a person who has been deprived of his or her liberty,
4) rapes another person, subjects him or her to sexual slavery, forces him or her into prostitution, pregnancy or sterilisation or commits other sexual violence of comparable gravity against him or her, or
5) engages in racial discrimination or persecutes an identifiable group or collectivity on the basis of political opinion, race, nationality, ethnic origin, culture, religion or gender or on other comparable grounds

shall be sentenced for a crime against humanity to imprisonment for at least one year or for life.

An attempt is punishable.

Chapter 11 (212/2008)
War crimes and crimes against humanity

Section 4 (212/2008)
Aggravated crime against humanity

If a crime against humanity

1) is directed against a large group of people,
2) is committed in a particularly brutal, cruel or humiliating manner, or
3) is committed in a particularly premeditated or systematic manner,

and the offence is also aggravated when assessed as a whole, the perpetrator shall be sentenced for an aggravated crime against humanity to imprisonment for at least eight years or for life.

An attempt is punishable.

Chapter 11 (212/2008)
War crimes and crimes against humanity

Section 4a (1718/2015)
Crime of aggression

If a person in a position effectively to exercise control over or to direct the political or military action of a state commits an act of aggression which, by its character, gravity and scale, constitutes a manifest violation of the Charter of the United Nations (Finnish Treaty Series 1/1956), the person shall be sentenced for a crime of aggression to imprisonment for at least four years or for life.

An attempt is punishable.

An act of aggression means the use of armed force by a state against the sovereignty, territorial integrity or political independence of another state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Charter of the United Nations.

The following acts committed by a state or the armed forces of a state, regardless of a declaration of war, shall, in accordance with United Nations General Assembly resolution 3314 (XXIX) of 14 December 1974, qualify as acts of aggression:

1) the invasion or attack of the territory of another state, any military occupation resulting from such invasion or attack, and any annexation of the territory of another state or part of it,
2) bombardment against the territory of another state and the use of any weapons against the territory of another state,
3) the blockade of the ports or coast of another state,
4) an attack on the land, sea or air forces, or marine and air fleets of another state,
5) the use of armed forces of one state which are within the territory of another state with the agreement of the receiving state, in contravention of the conditions provided for in the agreement or any extension of their presence in such territory beyond the termination of the agreement,
6) the action of a state in allowing its territory, which it has placed at the disposal of another state, to be used by that other state for perpetrating an act of aggression against a third state,
7) the sending by or on behalf of a state of armed bands, groups, irregulars or mercenaries, which carry out acts against another state of such gravity as to be comparable to the acts referred to in paragraphs 1–6, or its substantial involvement in the sending of these.

Chapter 11 (212/2008)
War crimes and crimes against humanity

Section 5 (212/2008)
War crime

A person who, in connection with a war or another international or domestic armed conflict or occupation, in violation of the Geneva Conventions for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field, for the Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea, relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, or relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (Finnish Treaty Series 8/1955, Geneva Conventions), or the Protocols Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 1949, relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts and to the Protection of Victims of NonInternational Armed Conflicts (Finnish Treaty Series 82/1980, Protocols I and II), or other rules and customs of international law on war, armed conflict of occupation,

1) kills another or wounds or tortures him or her, or in violation of his or her interests mutilates him or her or subjects him or her to a biological, medical or scientific experiment, or in another manner causes him or her great suffering or a serious injury or seriously harms his or her health,
2) rapes another person, subjects him or her to sexual slavery, forces him or her into prostitution, pregnancy or sterilisation, or commits other sexual violence of comparable gravity against him or her,
3) destroys, seizes or appropriates property wantonly and without military necessity,
4) in connection with an assault or otherwise pillages a town or another equivalent place,
5) takes or recruits children under 18 years of age into armed forces or into groups in which they are used for hostilities,
6) compels a prisoner of war or another protected person to serve in the armed forces of a hostile power or participate in military action against their own state,
7) deprives a prisoner of war or another protected person of the rights to a fair and regular trial or in another manner deprives him or her of legal guarantees,
8) launches an attack that causes a loss of human life or injuries or widespread, long-term and severe environmental damage that are clearly excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated,
9) attacks a civilian population, civilians not taking part in hostilities or civilian objects or persons engaged in tasks referred to in the Charter of the United Nations (Finnish Treaty Series 1/1956) or property used by them,
10) attacks undefended civilian objects or bombards them, attacks places intended for religious worship, science, art, medical treatment or charity or historical monuments, or attacks persons who are using the distinctive emblems referred to in the Geneva Conventions or their Protocol I or III,
11) makes improper use of the flag of truce, the flag of the enemy, the flag of the United Nations, military insignia, a military uniform or the distinctive emblems referred to in the Geneva Conventions or their Protocol I or III,
12) unlawfully confines or forcibly transfers or deports population or parts of it,
13) takes persons as hostages, declares that no quarter will be given, uses civilians or other protected persons to shield military objectives, deprives civilians of foodstuffs or other objects indispensable to their survival or of relief supplies, or uses other means of warfare prohibited under international law, or
14) uses poison or a poisoned weapon, asphyxiating or toxic gases or other equivalent substances, or weapons, ammunition or materiel that cause excessive injuries or unnecessary suffering, or chemical, biological or other prohibited weapons or ordnance shall be sentenced for a war crime to imprisonment for at least one year or for life.

A person who commits another act that constitutes a war crime under article 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (Finnish Treaty Series 56/2002) or in another manner violates the provisions of an international treaty on war, armed conflict or occupation that is binding on Finland or the generally recognised and established laws and customs of war in accordance with international law shall also be sentenced for a war crime.

An attempt is punishable.

Chapter 11 (212/2008)
War crimes and crimes against humanity

Section 6 (212/2008)
Aggravated war crime

If a war crime is committed as part of a plan or policy or as part of widespread war crimes and

1) it is directed against a large group of people,
2) it causes very serious and extensive damage,
3) it is committed in a particularly brutal, cruel or humiliating manner, or
4) it is committed in a particularly premeditated or systematic manner, and the offence is also aggravated when assessed as a whole, the perpetrator shall be sentenced for an aggravated war crime to imprisonment for at least eight years or for life.

An attempt is punishable.

Chapter 11 (212/2008)
War crimes and crimes against humanity

Section 7 (212/2008)
Petty war crime

If, taking into consideration the consequence caused or the other circumstances connected with the offence, the war crime is of minor significance when assessed as a whole, the perpetrator shall be sentenced for a petty war crime to a fine or to imprisonment for at most two years.

An attempt is punishable.

Chapter 11 (212/2008)
War crimes and crimes against humanity

Section 9a (990/2009)
Torture

If a public official causes another person strong physical or mental suffering

1) to get him or her or another person to confess or to provide information,
2) to punish him or her for something that he or she or some other person has done or is suspected of having done,
3) to intimidate or coerce him or her or another person, or
4) on the basis of race, national or ethnic origin, colour, language, sex, age, family relations, sexual orientation, genetic inheritance, disability, state of health, religion, societal opinion, political or vocational activities or other comparable factors, the public official shall be sentenced for torture to imprisonment for at least two and at most twelve years and, in addition, to be removed from office.

A public official who explicitly or implicitly approves an act referred to in subsection 1 committed by a subordinate or by a person who otherwise is within the effective authority and control of the public official shall also be sentenced for torture.

An attempt is punishable.

The provisions of this section concerning public officials also apply to persons holding a public position of trust and to persons exercising public authority and, with the exception of removal from office, also to employees of public sector entities and to foreign public officials.

Chapter 15 (563/1998)
Offences against the administration of justice

Section 5 (563/1998)
Attempted incitement to a false statement

A person who attempts to incite another person to commit an offence referred to in sections 1–3 shall be sentenced for attempted incitement to a false statement to a fine or to imprisonment for at most one year.