'Spy' professor accepts court verdict

[Editor’s note 28 August 2014: Timo Kivomäki was found guilty under the Danish paragraph 108, the so-called mild espionage paragraph, on 31 May 2012. Mild espionage is defined as aiding a foreign intelligence service without directly researching for them or informing for them. He was given a five month prison sentence. A resumé of the court’s decision can be found here. He served two and a half months in home arrest and four days of community service]

A five month prison sentence for “mild” espionage will not be appealed by Finnish political scientist Timo Kivimäki.

This is according to his lawyer Anders Nemeth, report Danish media.

In a proceeding that has been embalmed in secrecy, the professor was convicted of forwarding documents with summaries and conversations from conferences, four CVs from staff at the Centre for Military Studies as well as a report and a press release from the University of Copenhagen, according to Politiken.

He also attempted to deliver a list with names of some of his students.

Professor Kivimäki said after the ruling two weeks ago that the five month prison verdict was »surprising« and »unfair«.

Suspended

He did not believe it was Russian spies that he proffered information to.

»I don’t think these guys were spies, and I haven’t heard any evidence that they were. The court has entered the paranoid world of the intelligence community – in this world everybody is a terrorist or a spy. I don’t believe in that world,« he then said.

Professor Kivimäki has been suspended from his work at the University of Copenhagen since his arrest, and has pleaded not guilty. The University of Copenhagen has not yet taken a position on his contractual status.

miy@adm.ku.dk

Stay in the know about news and events happening in Copenhagen by signing up for the University Post’s weekly newsletter here.