A Finnish Court of Appeal has reduced Simon Ekpa’s prison sentence from six years to four years while upholding his convictions for terrorism-related offences.
Gatekeepers News reports that the court delivered its ruling on Thursday, October 15, 2026, affirming the decision of the Päijät-Häme District Court, which sentenced the Biafra separatist figure to six years in prison in September 2025 for participating in the activities of a terrorist group and publicly inciting people to commit crimes with terrorist intent.
Ekpa, 41, had appealed the sentence, while prosecutors also challenged the earlier ruling, seeking a longer prison term. He has been in custody in Finland since his arrest in November 2024.
According to the appeal court, the prosecution had established that Ekpa operated from Lahti, Finland, as the supreme commander of several armed groups in south-eastern Nigeria. The groups allegedly sought to establish an independent Biafran state and carried out attacks on police stations, government buildings and military roadblocks.
During the appeal, Ekpa presented additional evidence to support his argument that an internal armed conflict was ongoing in south-eastern Nigeria. He argued that international humanitarian law should apply to his activities rather than Finland’s domestic terrorism laws, maintaining that his actions were connected to the conflict and lacked terrorist intent.
The court examined the nature of the conflict, the organisation of the armed groups and the intensity of the fighting, comparing the evidence with international legal assessments of the Balkan wars.
Although the court acknowledged evidence suggesting that an internal armed conflict existed, it ruled that the intensity of the fighting did not meet the legal threshold for a civil war. It also found insufficient evidence that the armed groups could sustain prolonged military operations requiring strategic planning and continuity.
The court nevertheless considered the circumstances surrounding the offences relevant to sentencing, noting their similarities to situations in which factors such as civil war, self-defence and necessity could provide grounds for exemption from criminal liability.
It consequently reduced Ekpa’s prison term to four years but maintained his convictions for participating in the activities of a terrorist group and publicly inciting crimes with terrorist intent.
The court’s ruling is not final, as the parties may seek permission to appeal to Finland’s Supreme Court.
