The court has rejected the prosecution’s request to appeal a three-year prison sentence handed down to a 23 year-old refugee for sexual crimes committed against a 10-year-old girl in autumn 2016, the publication Yle reported.

Finland’s Supreme Court has denied an appeal in a sexual abuse case of a 10-year-old girl, ruling it as aggravated abuse rather than rape.

The case received a lot of attention in the local district court and the prosecution sought a harsher sentence for the perpetrator.

However, the Supreme Court refused, leaving the original appeal court sentence unchanged.

The court ruled that there was no evidence to suggest that the sexual encounter involved violence or that the child was incapacitated in any way.

At the time of the incident the victim was 10 and the defendant was 20 years old. The sexual abuse took place in a small town in the Pirkanmaa region, near Tampere.

The case resulted in a widespread national debate last year. Legal scholars expressed shock over the finding that the act was not against the victim’s will and did not involve violence.

Earlier this year, Justice Minister Antti Häkkänen called for stricter laws for sex offences against children.