Turku murders convict faces charges for beating prison guards

Moroccan national Abderrahman Bouanane, who has been serving life-term imprisonment since 2018 for killing two and wounding eight other in Turku, is now facing three more charges for assaulting guards of the prison, reported national broadcaster Yle on Wednesday.

The charges were filed with the Southwest Finland District Court in early January against Bouanane for resisting a government official violently on October 13, 15 and 31 in 2020, said the Yle report, adding that the convict allegedly kicked one guard and bite another on the finger.

Earlier, the district court of southwest Finland on June 15, 2018 sentenced Bouanane for killing two women and wounding eight at Turku market square on August 18, 2017.

It is the first time that a crime in Finland has been legally classified as terrorist attack.

The 23-year-old convict admitted the incident of stabbing to death two women and injuring eight other people during the trial.

The court also ordered the convict to pay compensation of EUR about 450,000 to families of the victims for their sufferings and damages.

The average length of a "life term imprisonment" in Finland is 14.5 years.

Bouanane arrived in Finland in December 2016 and applied for asylum in the country.

His first application was rejected. He committed the murders when an appeal against the decision of rejection remained waiting for the final decision.

He was reportedly influenced by religious radicalism during the waiting period.