Aleksei Kivimäki Walks Free: Appeal Court Orders Release of Convicted Psychotherapy Centre Database Hacker
The Helsinki Court of Appeal made a historic ruling on Thursday, ordering the immediate release of Aleksanteri Kivimäki, a convicted hacker who had been serving a six-year prison sentence for orchestrating a major data breach of the Vastaamo psychotherapy centre. The court's decision was met with a mixture of emotions as Kivimäki walked out of the courthouse, flanked by a gaggle of reporters and photographers.
In February 2023, Kivimäki was initially detained following an international manhunt. He had been charged with multiple counts of hacking into Vastaamo's patient database, containing the personal information of an estimated 33,000 people, in autumn 2018. The charges against him included aggravated data breach, almost 9,600 counts of aggravated invasion of privacy related to the dissemination of information, more than 21,300 counts of attempted aggravated extortion, and 20 counts of aggravated blackmail.
During the trial at Helsinki District Court, the court heard how Kivimäki hacked into the firm's database, leading to a massive data breach. A couple of years later, he allegedly attempted to extort money from both Vastaamo and its clients. The impact of the hack was devastating, with more victims in the case than in any other in Finnish criminal history. In fact, some of the affected patients had died by suicide after their patient records had been stolen and used in extortion attempts.
Kivimäki's lawyer, Peter Jaari, demanded his client's release during the appeal court proceedings, citing concerns that Kivimäki risked being imprisoned longer than his sentence if the appeal court changed the duration of his prison term. The state would be liable to pay Kivimäki compensation for the excess prison time if this were to occur.
Given that Kivimäki is considered a first-time offender, with most of his past convictions occurring years ago, he would only end up serving half of his six-year sentence. Even though the district court's verdict is still not final, the time Kivimäki spent in prison will count towards his eventual final sentence.
As Kivimäki walked out of the courthouse on Thursday afternoon, it was clear that this decision marks a significant turning point in his case. His release comes after almost two years and seven months behind bars, making him one of the longest-serving prisoners in Finnish history. The implications of this ruling will be closely watched by both law enforcement agencies and those affected by Kivimäki's actions.