Finnish prosecutors on Friday said they have charged Simon Ekpa with inciting terrorism online.
This is even as the prosecution authority said the prosecutor had decided to drop charges against four others in the case due to a lack of evidence.
This was revealed in a statement by Finland’s National Prosecution Authority.
According to the statement, NPA had charged “a Finnish individual in a case involving suspected public incitement to commit crimes with terrorist intent and participation in the activities of a terrorist group.”
It stated that the alleged crimes had been committed in the city of Lahti between 2021 and 2024 and were related to the suspect’s efforts to establish Nigeria’s Biafra region as an independent state.
The prosecution authority did not name the accused but Finnish public broadcaster YLE identified him as separatist leader Simon Ekpa.
Ekpa, a self-styled leader of the Biafra Republic’s government in exile, was detained in November.
According to the prosecution authority, the accused remained in custody and denied the charges.
The dual Finnish-Nigerian national has also been a local representative for Finland’s conservative National Coalition Party in the city of Lahti, north of Helsinki, where he has served on a public transport committee.