District Prosecutor Erkki Karvinen had to decide whether to bring charges against the competition organisers, but says that evidence was not strong enough to charge anyone.

The preliminary investigations had focused on establishing whether or not negligence on the organisers’ part had led to the Russian’s death. They discovered that medication may have been a contributory factor, and that a tube of anaesthetic cream that is banned in sauna competitions was in the dead man’s belongings.

The competition organisers asked for a medical certificate from all competitors, but the deceased did not provide it despite repeated assurances. The organisers had the power to disqualify competitors in cases where their medical suitability was in doubt. The prosecutor decided that the lack of a medical certificate could not be conclusively linked to the man’s death.

An electrical and technical investigation into the sauna itself found no defects that could have adversely affected sauna users. The sauna’s dimensions were consistent with the manufacturer’s instructions and the temperature at the start of the final was 117 degrees Celsius.

The Russian competitor was an experience competitive sauna-goer. He competed in the 2009 World Championships in Heinola and in the prosecutor’s opinion must have been aware of the dangers of burns in a sauna environment.