Mauno Olavi Laiho (1907 – 2 September 1944) was the last Finn to be executed in

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

Early life

Olavi Laiho was born the son of a farmhand in

Halikko Halikko () is a list of former municipalities of Finland, former municipality of Finland that existed until December 31, 2008. On January 1, 2009, the municipality was merged with the larger neighboring Salo, Finland, Salo. Before the merge Halikk ...

, Finland. He was introduced to

communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

very early on, and was an active member of the underground

Finnish Communist Party The Communist Party of Finland ( fi, Suomen Kommunistinen Puolue, SKP; sv, Finlands Kommunistiska Parti) was a communist political party in Finland. The SKP was a section of Comintern and illegal in Finland until 1944. The SKP was banned by ...

. He moved to

Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...

, where he worked as a construction worker. Laiho was active in sports.

Military service

During the

Continuation War The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet-Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1944, as part of World War II.; sv, fortsättningskriget; german: Fortsetzungskrieg. A ...

, Laiho was

conscripted Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...

into the

Finnish Army The Finnish Army (Finnish: ''Maavoimat'', Swedish: ''Armén'') is the land forces branch of the Finnish Defence Forces. The Finnish Army is divided into six branches: the infantry (which includes armoured units), field artillery, anti-aircraft ...

as a private. Laiho deserted and moved to a clandestine hideaway near

, where he worked actively as a spy for the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

and as an aide for other deserters.

Capture, trial and execution

Laiho was caught in early 1944 and sentenced to death by

military court A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...

for desertion,

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangibl ...

and

high treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

. He was shot by

military police Military police (MP) are law enforcement agencies connected with, or part of, the military of a state. In wartime operations, the military police may support the main fighting force with force protection, convoy security, screening, rear recon ...

firing squad Execution by firing squad, in the past sometimes called fusillading (from the French ''fusil'', rifle), is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war. Some reasons for its use are that firearms are us ...

on 2 September 1944 in

Oulu Oulu ( , ; sv, Uleåborg ) is a city, municipality and a seaside resort of about 210,000 inhabitants in the region of North Ostrobothnia, Finland. It is the most populous city in northern Finland and the fifth most populous in the country after: ...

, two days before the armistice.Kulomaa, Jukka and Nieminen, Jarmo: Teloitettu totuus – kesä 1944. (''Executeced Truth – Summer 1944'') Ajatus Kirjat, Helsinki, 2008. Although the Finnish Military Code mandated a death penalty for espionage and treason, it is likely his communist background ultimately influenced his sentence. Laiho was the last Finn to be executed in Finland, and the last Finn to be executed for a military crime. A group of three Soviet infiltrators were shot on the following day for

. The armistice on 4 September 1944 put a moratorium on any further executions. In 1945, all death sentences were commuted to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

. The death penalty for military crimes was abolished in Finland in 1972.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Laiho, Olavi 1907 births 1944 deaths People from Salo, Finland People from Turku and Pori Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) Communist Party of Finland politicians 1944 in Finland Finnish soldiers People executed by Finland by firing squad Executed Finnish people Executed spies Finnish spies for the Soviet Union World War II spies for the Soviet Union People convicted of spying for the Soviet Union People executed for desertion 20th-century executions by Finland