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The third revised edition of the Criminal Lawyer's Handbook
The third revised edition of Rikosasianajajan käsikirja (The Criminal Lawyer's Handbook) written by Markku Fredman was published at the very end of 2025. The book has 1,379 pages, which is about 200 pages more than the previous second edition published in 2021. The book's introductory chapter and certain other sections are part of the bar examination requirements in Finland.
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Legal Work Award to Markku Fredman
The Board of the Finnish Bar Association decided, in accordance with proposals made by local chapters, to award the Legal Work Award to attorney-at-law Markku Fredman. The award was presented at the assembly of the Finnish Bar Association's Council on June 6, 2025, in Jyväskylä.
The award citation states the following: Markku Fredman has worked as a lawyer for 36 years, and he has become known as a steadfast defender of legal protection: He has participated as a protector of fundamental and human rights in numerous high-profile criminal cases, been a pioneer in bringing cases to the European Court of Human Rights, and argued domestically in 53 cases leading to Supreme Court precedents and 19 cases leading to Supreme Administrative Court precedents.
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Device search overturned as contrary to EU law
The District Court of Varsinais-Suomi announced on January 20, 2025, its decision:
Device search conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation contrary to EU law and the Coercive Measures Act
The District Court of Varsinais-Suomi has decided on the question of the legality of a device search conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation, which was brought before it as a coercive measures matter.
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Anneli Auer's Sexual Crime Conviction Annulled
Expected Ruling
The Supreme Court has today, December 5, 2024, decided to annul the sexual crime conviction by which Anneli Auer and her then-boyfriend were sentenced to long prison terms for sexual crimes considered to have been committed against Auer's children. Both defendants denied all charges. Anneli Auer was ultimately found guilty of 12 different crimes and sentenced to 7 years and 6 months in prison. The other defendant was convicted of 11 different crimes and sentenced to 10 years in prison. They have both served their sentences as a continuation of pre-trial detention that began in 2011.
The evidence for the crimes consisted largely of accounts from Auer's three children, born between 1999 and 2004. The oldest child, born in 1997, consistently denied that any sexual acts had been committed against them or their siblings. At the time the accounts were given, the children were placed with Auer's brother, as Auer herself was in custody suspected of murdering her husband.
All the children are now adults. One after another, they have admitted that the accounts of sexual crimes given at the time are not true at all. The children's explanations of why they lied during the criminal investigation were submitted as attachments to the appeal for reversal to the Supreme Court in February 2023. They have subsequently been interrogated in a National Bureau of Investigation inquiry, where they confirmed that the accounts used as evidence at the time are not true.
Victory in the Supreme Court
The legal aid fee regulation no longer leads to the reasonable fee intended by law, so it must be left unapplied as contrary to law.
Victory in the Supreme Court
Dr. Markku Fredman brought the fee paid from state funds for the task of defense attorney to the Supreme Court for evaluation when the demand for updating the fee regulation, which had been pending for years, had not led to results. The fee regulation was last reviewed in 2013 and fees have not been raised despite over 20% inflation. The fee according to the regulation has been 110 euros per hour plus value-added tax. The Supreme Court decided to pay Fredman's fee at a rate of 130 euros per hour, which is what he had requested.
Markku Fredman appointed as professor of practice
Lawyer, Docent Markku Fredman has been appointed as professor of practice in advocacy law at the University of Helsinki from the beginning of the autumn semester 2023. The position is for three years and part-time (40%). He will also continue handling assignments as an advocate.
From the university's press release:
The task of the professor of practice is to teach advocacy law and supervise research in legal units. In addition, the position supports the teaching of procedural law at universities: alongside traditional court proceedings, arbitration procedures and mediations are playing an increasingly significant role, in all of which advocates have a very central role. The position is located at the University of Helsinki, but it includes the obligation to teach and supervise research also at other legal education units in Finland.
The Sámi won the fishing dispute in the Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of Finland has dismissed charges in two cases concerning the right of local Sámi people to fish in the Utsjoki and Vetsijoki rivers, which are part of the Teno River water system in Lapland.
The Supreme Court thus upheld the decisions issued by the Lapland District Court. Attorney Markku Fredman served as legal representative for the Sámi people in question in the Supreme Court, pictured familiarizing himself with the "crime scene" at Vetsijoki.In one case, the prosecutor demanded that a local Sámi person be punished for a fishing offense. The man had fished for salmon with a gill net in Utsjoki outside the permitted fishing season in August 2017. Fishing at that time in August was contrary to the Government Decree then in force, which concerned fishing in the tributaries of the Teno River water system.
The time-limit for applying to the European Court of Human Rights will be four months
From 1 February 2022 the time-limit for applying to the European Court of Human Rights will be four months from the final domestic decision From 1 February 2022 the time-limit for submitting an application to the European Court of Human Rights will be reduced from six months to four months from the final domestic judicial decision in the case (usually a judgment of the highest court in the country concerned).
The change to the time-limit for applying to the Court arises out of Protocol No. 15 to the European Convention on Human Rights, which has been signed and ratified by the 47 member States of the Council of Europe. This text amending the Convention entered into force on 1 August 2021 but provided for a transition period before the change became effective. As the transition period ends on 1 February 2022, from that date onwards applicants and their lawyers will have to comply with the new time-limit; if they do not, their application will be declared inadmissible.
The four-month time-limit for applying to the Court after the final domestic decision is one of the admissibility criteria laid down in Article 35 of the Convention. If even one of these criteria is not met the application will be declared inadmissible, which is why it is essential to comply with all the requirements when submitting an application to the Court.Markku Fredman kommentoi venäläistä hiihtoraivoa
Asianajaja Markku Fredman kommentoi venäläiselle verkkojulkaisulle matchtv.ru Lahdessa tapahtunutta Aleksandr Bolshuvovin käytöstä miesten viestihiihdon maaliintulossa.
Большунову могут грозить два года тюрьмы. Мы поговорили с финскими юристами
Law Firm Fredman & Månsson
LL.D Markku Fredman is the owner at Fredman & Månsson.
