In a significant legal development, Finnish politician Päivi Räsänen has announced her intention to take her case to the European Court of Human Rights. This comes after Finland’s Supreme Court found her guilty of insulting the LGBT community through a decades-old pamphlet discussing sexual ethics.
Alongside Räsänen, Lutheran Bishop Juhana Pohjola was also convicted for disseminating content deemed insulting to a group. Both convictions followed a reversal of two prior acquittals by lower courts after the Finnish state successfully appealed.
Räsänen expressed her concerns regarding the ruling, stating, “The failure of the Finnish Supreme Court to uphold freedom of speech has set a dangerous precedent in my country and across Europe.” She emphasized the importance of appealing the decision to restore respect for the fundamental right to express views peacefully in public.
The decision from the Supreme Court was a narrow one, with a 3 to 2 majority ruling against Räsänen. The court ordered the destruction of all copies of the controversial booklet and imposed fines on Räsänen, Bishop Pohjola, and the Luther Foundation Finland amounting to several thousand euros.
Räsänen further commented on the broader implications of her case, saying, “I know I am not alone in facing unjust persecution under ‘hate speech’ laws that make sharing Christian beliefs a criminal offense.”
Lorcán Price, a member of Räsänen’s legal team from ADF International, criticized the Finnish ruling, describing it as “retroactive censorship” and a “chilling” development. Price highlighted the conflict between the ‘hate speech’ laws used in the conviction and international human rights law regarding freedom of speech and religion.
Price raised concerns, “If such laws can be interpreted so broadly as to include a decades-old church booklet, how can anyone in Finland be certain that anything they have said, or will say, will not be prosecuted?” He stressed the need for the European Court of Human Rights to clarify and protect these fundamental freedoms.
This article was originally written by www.christiantoday.com
