A high school student of immigrant background who suffered life-threatening injuries in a stabbing earlier this month in Oulu has been released from hospital.
He was released some time ago, according to Janne Koskela, a detective inspector at the Oulu Police Department.
The boy was rushed to hospital after the attack on Monday, 9 September. Police suspect a 23-year-old man from Oulu stabbed the boy.
The stabbing occurred on a pedestrian and bike path in broad daylight near the boy's school in the Kastelli neighbourhood. The victim was taken to Oulu University Hospital, a few hundred metres from the scene of the crime.
"Initially the situation was very serious. If help had not been as close and available as it was, the situation might have been completely different," Koskela explained.
New information
Koskela said the preliminary investigation into the case has progressed well and that the probe is expected to be completed in coming weeks. The case is being investigated as attempted manslaughter.
A possible motive for the attack has become clearer, according to Koskela.
"A certain matter came up during the investigation," he said, but did not specify further.
The victim has a foreign background but authorities do not believe the attack was racially motivated. Police have previously said the attack appeared to have been spontaneous.
The suspect in the September attack was remanded into custody a couple days after the incident.
On Thursday, a hearing about the suspect's detainment was held at Oulu District Court.
According to police, the suspect and victim did not know each other previously and the suspect did not have a serious criminal record.
There were two other stabbing incidents in the city last June, both of which police suspect were racially motivated. Both of those attacks took place at the Valkea shopping centre.
According to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Juhani Sebastian Lämsä stabbed and seriously wounded a 12-year-old boy of foreign background in the shopping centre on 13 June.
In a separate case, a teenager is suspected of stabbing and injuring a man of foreign background in an apparent copycat attack, outside the same mall a few days later.