[1] As a politician, Happonen often argued with local landowners who were supporters or members of the Lapua Movement and the paramilitary right-wing White Guard.[2] Together with the Ståhlberg kidnapping, the Peasant March and the Mäntsälä rebellion, the Happonen murder is one of the major incidents involving the Lapua Movement.[4] A local police officer, who belonged to the staff of the Heinävesi White Guard, arrested Happonen for the shooting, but instead of being taken into custody, he was handed over to the fascist mob.[5] Once Happonen's body was found, two local men, Otto Pakarinen and Anselmi Puustinen, confessed to having carried out the murder.[5] After hearing their sentences, Pakarinen and Puustinen announced that their testimony had been false, and that they had been given bribes to plead guilty to the murder.