Helsinki - A top Finnish diplomat was Thursday awarded
damages over being wrongly fingered as a spy for the former East
German Ministry of State Security, known as the Stasi.
The Helsinki District Court ruled that Alpo Rusi, a close aide to
former president Martti Ahtisaari during most of his presidency 1994
to 2000, should be awarded 70,000 euros (102,000 dollars) for
psychological suffering and financial losses.
The court also said the state should pay Rusi's legal fees.
During the trial that ended in August, Rusi demanded damages of
500,000 euros.
Rusi and his elder brother Jukka Rusi, who is now dead, were both
suspected of having passed on classified documents to the East German
intelligence service from the late 1960s to 1976.
A probe was launched in 2002, but the state prosecutor dropped the
case the following year.
In his testimony, Ahtisaari said the head of the security police
informed him about suspicions against Rusi in 2002, adding he was
surprised over the information.
The Finnish security police have investigated some 20 people over
possible ties with Stasi, deputy security police head Petri Knape
said during the trial, but only two cases including the Rusi brothers
were ever handed over to a prosecutor for assessment.
The security police and the state's lawyer denied any wrongdoing
during the trial while Rusi's lawyer said sensitive information was
leaked by police.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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