Police officer cleared over Putin entry in criminal database

HELSINKI: A Finnish police officer on Tuesday was cleared of charges of negligence over the appearance of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s name on a database of criminal suspects.

Putin’s name was discovered on the list in 2013 as an alleged contributor to gang-related crime in his homeland.

The media revelation of the unfounded entry caused a scandal, forcing the Finnish police to publicly apologise for its “serious error” and triggering an investigation.

The police officer on trial, who was not publicly identified, was in charge of the internal police database, which contains the names of people suspected of having committed crimes punishable by at least six months in jail.

The Helsinki Court of Appeal ruled that the officer’s responsibilities in managing the list had not been defined clearly enough to hold him criminally liable for the mistake.

Similar charges of negligence against two other police officers were previously dismissed by a lower court.

After the scandal broke, Putin’s spokesperson said the president reacted to the news “with irony” and did not request any action be taken against the officers.

The Russian leader’s name had been on the list for about two weeks before it was deleted.

But it was unclear how appeared there. it had — AFP