Ernst Tandefelt, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetErnst Tandefelt
Finnish nobleman and assassin
Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Sysmä, Southern Finland Regional State Administrative Agency, Finland
About Ernst Tandefelt
- Knut Ernst Robert Tandefelt (March 10, 1876 in Sysmä, Finland – May 3, 1948 in Sipoo, Finland) was a Swedish-speaking Finnish nobleman. The mentally unstable Tandefelt shot the Finnish Minister of Internal Affairs Heikki Ritavuori dead at Ritavuori's home door at Nervanderinkatu 11 in Etu-Töölö, Helsinki on February 14, 1922, to affect Finland's politics in the Kindred Nations Wars (heimosodat) taking place in Eastern Karelia.
- The event was the only murder of a government minister and the only political assassination in the entire history of independent Finland. Tandefelt has often been suspected of having acted because of an extreme right-wing conspiracy, but there is no binding evidence of this.
- Tandefelt himself said he acted alone. Tandefelt was sentenced to life imprisonment of hard labor.
- Later, the Supreme Court of Finland ordered him to undergo a mental health examination.
- Tandefelt was legally found to be partially insane and the sentence was lowered to 12 years of hard labor.
- Tandefelt died in the Nikkilä mental hospital on May 3, 1948.
Read more at Wikipedia