Finland’s Supreme Court convicted a parliament member of “hate speech” even though lower courts acquitted her twice.
In a 3–2 decision March 26, the court deemed Paivi Rasanen guilty, saying she “made available to the public and kept available to the public opinions that insult homosexuals as a group on the basis of their sexual orientation,” states Alliance Defending Freedom International.
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Rasanen was “convicted … under a section of the Finnish criminal code titled ‘war crimes and crimes against humanity,'” says ADF International, which coordinated her legal defense.
This case concerned a pamphlet that Rasanen, a medical doctor, wrote on marriage and human sexuality in 2004 for her church. Convicted with her was Juhana Pohjola, a Lutheran bishop.
Further, “the Supreme Court has imposed criminal fines … and ruled that the impugned statements must be ‘removed from public access and destroyed,'” says ADF International.
Appeal?
Rasanen may appeal her case to the European Court of Human Rights, notes ADF International.
In 2022 and 2023, she was tried and acquitted on three changes — using a Bible verse in a tweet to speak against her church’s sponsorship of a 2019 Pride event, expressing her view in a 2019 radio debate and creating the 2004 pamphlet.
The Finnish state prosecutor appealed the acquittals related to the tweet and pamphlet.
A unanimous verdict on March 26 upheld her acquittal regarding the tweet, says ADF International.
