A barrage of charges for Auer and ex-boyfriend
THE LONG-running court proceedings against Anneli Auer took a new turn last week when the District Prosecutor filed a host of charges against Auer and her ex-boyfriend. Charges that have been made against both include serious child sexual abuse and 20 other charges, Public Prosecutor Heli Haapalehto told news agency STT last week.
Haapalehto did not list all the charges, but said they include several related to sexual abuse and other violence. Both of the accused, who have earlier denied all wrongdoing, have been in custody since last September. Given the scope and seriousness of the charges, the legal proceedings are expected to last many weeks.
According to the Public Prosecutor, the alleged offences took place in 2007 and 2008, and most of the alleged victims were minors at the time. During the preliminary investigative stage, which was completed last week, police stated that in addition to the charges against both of the accused Auer is also suspected of other instances of physical abuse of children, and also of animals. Auer’s ex-boyfriend, whose name has not been disclosed, has been charged with possession of photographic material showing sexual exploitation of children.
| This year is a leap year, with 29 days in February. |
The legal proceeding now underway are not related to the high-profile case in which Auer was suspected of murdering her former husband Jukka S. Lahti. She was acquitted by the Court of Appeal last summer. Lahti was murdered in 2006, and the suspicions of child sexual abuse against Auer came to light soon after.
MIKKO NIILES – STT
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LEHTIKUVA - ANTTI AIMO-KOUVISTO
