Iraqi twins to be compensated for imprisonment

The State Treasury on Monday announced that it would pay a compensation of 426,000 euros to two Iraqi brothers, who suffered an imprisonment of 533 days.

The twins were accused of committing war crimes in Iraq.

They were convicted of a mass killing that took place in Tikrit, Iraq, in 2014 and later acquitted of the charges early this year, reported the national broadcaster Yle.

The identical twins arrived in Finland as asylum seekers in 2015 and they were arrested in December 2015 on charges of the killings, following tip-offs from other Iraqi asylum seekers in Finland who had seen an Isis propaganda video showing the massacre.

The Pirkanmaa District Court in Tampere in a verdict in 2017 acquitted them of charges as there was no sufficient evidence against them.

The case went to the Turku court of appeal challenging the verdict of the district court, but the Appeal Court also acquitted them of all charges in February 2020.

The State Treasury considered 400 euros per day as a reasonable compensation for their imprisonment and each of them will get about 213,000 euros, the Yle report added.