Attorney Matti Reinikainen says that the suspected KuPS player denies his guilt. According to Reinikainen, the club received information about the suspected crime the morning after the championship was decided.
15:54•Updated 16:07
The police suspect the Kuopio Football Club player of rape. According to the police, the suspected crime took place on October 13. The Kuopio Palloseura won the men’s football Finnish championship the following Saturday.
The suspect is a Nigerian striker Paul Ogunkoyawho has been playing in Kuopio on a one-year loan contract. He also played in the last match of the season, when KuPS beat HJK on October 19 and celebrated the Finnish championship.
A lawyer representing the player Matti Reinikainen according to which the player denies having committed the crime. Reinikainen is also a member of KuPS’s board, who, according to his account, is responsible for informing the legal side.
We are releasing the suspect’s name at this point to exclude other individuals. In addition, the suspicion of a crime is serious and it involves a player from a champion team in a highly watched sport.
Reinikainen’s criminal suspicion had come to the club’s attention on Sunday, October 20 at 8 o’clock in the morning, when the police had picked up the player from his home.
– I heard about it from our CEO, whom the player had contacted after the arrest. The first interrogation was conducted on the same day at 2 p.m.
According to Reinikainen, KuPS did not know about the suspected crime before the final match of the season.
CEO of KuPS Tomi Erola told via text message that he would not comment on what happened.
Reinikainen emphasizes that the player has been arrested on grounds of suspicion, which means less than the most likely reasons.
Reinikainen says that he was present at both interrogations. The matter has not yet been discussed in the KuPS organization.
– The matter is completely unfinished. The club has not taken a position on it, rather than tried to get the matter clarified as best as possible. The preliminary investigation is secret. I cannot start commenting on things that I have received in the preliminary investigation.
Stakeholders will be heard in more detail. According to Reinikainen, that is the basis for the player’s arrest, because according to Reinikainen, the player has already been consulted in sufficient detail. The player was captured on October 23. An arrest based on reason to suspect can take a week.