Scandinavian Homosexualities by Jan Leofstreom J. Lofstrom

Author:Jan Leofstreom, J. Lofstrom [Jan Leofstreom, J. Lofstrom]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781560231110
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 1998-06-08T00:00:00+00:00

SISTERS IN CRIME: TWO CASES

A couple of years after The Herb Grove trial two more cases of women's same-sex fornication were brought in court, again in Eastern Finland. The events took place in a village only thirty miles away from The Herb Grove. Though it was only a village, the public prosecutor, Mr. Nevalainen “found” no less than two “fornicators” there, sisters Kerttu and Alina. In 1955, he charged Kerttu and her housekeeper Leena for fornication with another person of the same sex. Two years later, in 1957, he brought the same charge against Kerttu's sister, Alina, whose suspect partner was an underage girl, Silja. Both cases were reported to Nevalainen, who was also the local police chief. It is uncertain as to who was the informer in Kerttu's case, but Alina's nephew “Aaro J.,” told Eve Hirvo-nen and me in an interview, in 1992, that the informer had probably been Leena's ex-husband. Alina's case was reported by Silja's mother who wanted to have Alina punished for seducing her underage daughter to indecent life.

In the first of these cases, Kerttu, a 29-year-old estate owner, and her 49-year-old housekeeper Leena confessed fornication when arrested. The court of first instance sentenced them for “continued fornication” to eight months suspended. In the second court case, in 1957, Silja, a 17-year-old dairy farming trainee, confessed the crime in a long and strenuous police interrogation. However, a few days later she arrived at the office of the public prosecutor, Mr. Nevalainen, and wanted to withdraw her confession. She denied her confession also in the court. Her alleged accomplice, Alina, a 37-year-old estate manager, also confessed to the charge in the police inquiry, but in the court of first instance she denied she had ever said the things written in the police interrogation records. Silja and Alina's defense counsel claimed that the atmosphere of the police interrogation had been oppressive.

Silja was fully discharged on the grounds of the Act on young offenders. Alina was sentenced to seven months in prison for “fornication with a person of 15 but not 17 years of age, and for fornication with another person of the same sex, committed by single act.” The public prosecutor and Alina's defense counsel appealed against the decision to the Court of Appeal: the prosecutor asked for a more severe sentence and Alina asked for acquittal or reduction of her sentence. The new sentence suspended her punishment for a three-year probationary period. Alina then appealed to The Supreme Court, but The Supreme Court did not alter the length of her sentence. However, it based its verdict on different grounds than the lower instances. Alina was found guilty of “continued fornication with a person 15 but not 17 years of age.”

The prosecutor who charged both Alina and Kerttu was the one and the same person, Mr. Nevalainen. He apparently had also a personal matter to settle in these cases: Alina's nephew “Aaro J.,” told in an interview in 1992 how accused Alina and Mr. Nevalainen had had a clash in private matters; “Aaro J.

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