Ex-Finnish PM denies Iraq charge
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HELSINKI, Finland (Reuters) -- Finland's first female prime minister, who quit last year accused of using leaked documents on Iraq to win an election, actively sought secret information, the court heard on the first day of her trial on Wednesday.
Anneli Jaatteenmaki faces a possible fine for inciting or assisting the breach of official secrets. Prosecutors say she repeatedly asked a presidential aide for information on U.S.-Finland talks on Iraq, an allegation she has denied.
The former aide accused of leaking the documents, Martti Manninen, also faces a potential fine. He has said Jaatteenmaki pressed him for documents and even gave him a secret fax number.
"I did not think that receiving faxes or sending them could be wrong," Jaatteenmaki told the court on Wednesday.
Manninen's lawyer told the court the information sent was not secret and Manninen had no idea how it would be used.
"This is a thoroughly political trial," lawyer Matti Wuori said. "The fact that Jaatteenmaki ... used (the information) in a way that some people found sensational and contrary to our established political culture is not a punishable deed."
The trial, in which Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja is due to testify for the defense, is scheduled to conclude on Friday and a ruling is expected two weeks later.
It is one of the many aftershocks of the Iraq war and comes a week after Britain dropped charges against a translator for leaking a top secret U.S. memo.
It shows how far the repercussions of the Iraq conflict reached, rattling even a small non-aligned Nordic country on the edge of Europe usually known for its straight-laced politics and lack of corruption.
Jaatteenmaki resigned in June 2003 after only two months in office, denying to the end she had asked for details of secret foreign ministry documents on talks held between her predecessor Paavo Lipponen and President George Bush in December 2002.
Bush thanked Lipponen for his support as tension mounted ahead of the war against Iraq, comments that struck a nerve in Finland where the public fiercely opposed military action against Baghdad and suspicion of U.S. intentions ran deep.
Jaatteenmaki, 49, used the information in March 2003 parliamentary elections, saying Lipponen had taken Finland off the path of peace. Jaatteenmaki's Centre Party emerged from the election as Finland's largest party.
It later emerged that Manninen was the source of the leak, in a stroke tainting Finland's top two political offices and stunning a country proud of its squeaky clean image abroad.
Jaatteenmaki's government was Finland's shortest non-caretaker administration for almost 60 years.
But she still enjoys support among Centre Party members and in June, a year after she quit, she will run in elections for the European Parliament.
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