State funeral of President Martti Ahtisaari to be held in Helsinki on St Martin’s Day, 10 November

The state funeral of former President of Finland Martti Ahtisaari will take place in Helsinki on St Martin’s Day, Friday 10 November. The funeral service will be held at Helsinki Cathedral at 13.00.

President Ahtisaari will be buried at Hietaniemi Cemetery in the same area as Presidents Urho Kekkonen, Mauno Koivisto and Risto Ryti. Flags will be flown at half-mast throughout the country on the day of the funeral. YLE channel 1 of the Finnish Broadcasting Company will broadcast the funeral live on TV as will YLE Areena, its online service, and there will be a radio transmission on Radio Suomi.

The Government decided on the arrangements for the state funeral in its plenary session on Wednesday 18 October. At the beginning of the session, the members of the Government held a moment of silence to honour the memory of former President Ahtisaari, who passed away on Monday 16 October.

In the same session, the Government set up a committee to plan and organise the state funeral. State Secretary Risto Artjoki will serve as its chair.

The other members of the committee are:

• Timo Lankinen, Permanent State Under-Secretary, Prime Minister’s Office (vice-chair).
• Hiski Haukkala, Secretary General, Office of the President of the Republic 
• Lieutenant Colonel Tino Savolainen, First Aide-de-Camp, Office of the President of the Republic 
• Jukka Salovaara, Permanent Secretary, Ministry for Foreign Affairs 
• Mika Koskinen, Chief of Protocol, Ministry for Foreign Affairs 
• Teemu Laajasalo, Bishop, Helsinki Diocese 
• Petri Oittinen, Chief Verger, Helsinki Cathedral Parish 
• Lasse Aapio, Police Chief, Helsinki Police Department 
• Commodore Tuomas Tiilikainen, Chief of Personnel, Finnish Defence Forces 
• Colonel Matti Honko, Commander of the Helsinki Garrison, Finnish Defence Forces 
• Minna Kukkonen-Karlander, Senior Manager, CMI – Martti Ahtisaari Peace Foundation 
• Marko Ahtisaari, Artistic Director, representative of Ahtisaari’s immediate family 

Tiina-Kaisa Laakso-Liukkonen, Chief Specialist at the Prime Minister’s Office, will serve as secretary of the committee.

Martti Ahtisaari was the tenth President of the Republic of Finland. He was in office from 1994 to 2000. At the time of his death, President Ahtisaari was 86 years old.

Inquiries: Tiina-Kaisa Laakso-Liukkonen, Chief Specialist, tel. +358 29 516 0220 and Aapo Riihimäki, Senior Communications Specialist, tel. +358 50 471 3020, Prime Minister’s Office.