Page "Karl Lennart Oesch" Paragraph 20

According to Finnish sources, proof for Oesch ’ s personal responsibility for these deaths was rather dubious.

But in the postwar political climate it was imperative to fulfill the Soviet demands in order not to give them any excuses to intervene even more in Finnish affairs.

Oesch was condemned to 12 years of penal servitude by a Finnish military court on 19 July 1946, although the sentence was commuted to three years by the Highest Court on 2 February 1948.

Nevertheless, Oesch ’ s military career was finished.

Oesch was the only senior Finn to be condemned of war crimes.