CV NEWS FEED // Finnish state prosecutors have launched an appeal against the court’s second unanimous decision to exonerate a Finnish Member of Parliament and Lutheran bishop of “hate speech” charges.
According to Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International urgent press release, Finnish MP Päivi Räsänen will appear at the country’s Supreme Court over “hate speech” charges filed against her for tweeting a Bible verse which condemned same-sex “marriage.”
Bishop Juhana Pohjola will also be tried in the Supreme Court for sharing a 2004 Church pamphlet written by Räsänen with his congregation.
The prosecution “is demanding tens of thousands of Euros in fines and insisting that Räsänen and Pohjala’s publications be censored.”
As CatholicVote previously reported, the Helsinki Court of Appeals had unanimously dismissed the charges of “hate speech” filed against the MP and bishop for the second time in November 2023, stating that it found “no reason, on the basis of he evidence received at the main hearing, to assess the case in any respect differently from the District Court.”
Finland’s Prosecutor General first brought charges against Räsänen in April 2021 for “agitation against a minority group,” under Finland’s “war crimes and crimes against humanity,” penal code. The Helsinski District Court unanimously acquitted Räsänen and Pohjala in March 2022.
Räsänen stated in the press release:
After my full exoneration in two courts, I’m not afraid of a hearing before the Supreme Court. Even though I am fully aware that every trial carries risks, an acquittal from the Supreme Court would set an even stronger positive precedent for everyone’s right to free speech and religion.
And if the Court decided to overturn the lower courts’ acquittals, I am ready to defend freedom of speech and religion as far as the European Court of Human rights, if necessary
Police began investigating Räsänen in June 2019 after she called out the leaders of her Lutheran church on X for agreeing to sponsor a “pride” event, in which she shared the Bible verse.
“The state’s insistence on continuing this prosecution despite such a clear and unanimous ruling by both the Helsinki District Court and Court of Appeal is alarming,” said Paul Coleman, Executive Director of ADF International.
He continued:
Dragging people through the courts for years, subjecting them to hour-long police interrogations, and wasting taxpayer money in order to police people’s deeply held beliefs has no place in a democratic society. As is so often the case in “hate speech” trials, the process has become the punishment.”
Räsänen endured a total of thirteen hours of police interrogation, “including being frequently asked by the police to explain her understanding of the Bible,” according to ADF International.
