Man fined for storing dead parents in freezers for 30 years in Turku

The Southwest Finland District Court on Friday fined an 81-year-old man about 2,000 euros (110- day fine) for storing the dead bodies of his parents in freezers for more than 30 years, said the court in a press release.

The court also fined his 70-year-old brother about 640 euros (40-day fine) for his involvement in the incident.

The court awarded the punishments to the brothers as the allegations of violating the sanctity of a grave, as well as the unlawful concealing of unburied bodies, brought against them were proved beyond doubt.

According to the verdict, one of the parents died in 1994 and the rest one in 1995 and both the deaths were natural.

The hospital authorities handed the bodies over to the elder son, a physician but the son kept the bodies in chest freezers inside an outbuilding in Turku instead of arranging burial.

The police recovered the bodies from the home in June 2024.

The man during the trial admitted storing the bodies in the freezers but denied committing a crime.

He told the court that he did it to fulfil the desire of his parents, who wished their bodies to be taken to the United States but he failed to do that due to various reasons.

The court observed that concealing the dead bodies is a criminal act and the parents' wish for their bodies to be frozen did not absolve the man of criminal liability.

The convict has violated statutes intended to protect people's basic understanding of how the dead should be treated, said the verdict.

The convicts, however, will have the rights to appeal to the higher court against the verdict.