Helsinki District Court has dismissed all charges against author and theatre figure Veijo Baltzar on Friday.
The 78-year-old Baltzar had faced charges including aggravated human trafficking, aggravated rape, rape and aggravated child sexual assault.
However, the court ruled that the evidence failed to meet the burden of proof as the prosecution had not proved that Baltzar intended to put his alleged victims into forced labor, sexual exploitation or other conditions that violated their human dignity.
The prosecution in the case had called for a 10-year-prison sentence for the offences that allegedly took place in Helsinki, Kuopio, Raseborg and Rautalammi between August 2004 and November 2019.
A preliminary investigation had found that the thespian invited multiple women, some of whom were children at the time, to live with him under "cult-like" conditions which involved controlling what they wore and ate and whom they talked to.
He was suspected of having befriended the girls and young women in Helsinki, before recruiting them to work with him at the theatre activities he ran.
Baltzar denied committing any of the crimes. He was held in detention for the duration of the proceedings, which were concealed from the public.
The district court also dismissed charges against two women for aiding and abetting human trafficking.