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Finland's Supreme Court fines MP for calling homosexuality 'developmental disorder'
The court upheld fines of €1,800 and ordered removal of unlawful content, ruling Räsänen's pamphlet insulted homosexuals and violated anti-discrimination laws.
- On Tuesday, Finland's Supreme Court found MP Paivi Rasanen guilty of incitement against a group, fining her 1,800 euros for calling homosexuality a "developmental disorder" in a pamphlet shared online in 2019 and 2020.
- The ruling concludes a legal process lasting close to seven years, overturning earlier acquittals by lower courts that had previously cleared Rasanen of all charges regarding the pamphlet's content.
- While convicting Rasanen for the pamphlet, the court unanimously acquitted her of a separate charge involving a 2019 social media post that featured a Bible quote condemning gay relations.
- Rasanen called the outcome "a shock" and told reporters she would consider appealing to the European Court of Human Rights, while ADF International criticized the conviction as creating a "chilling effect."
- Government ministers from the Finns Party immediately called for legislative changes to the incitement law, while Green party leader Sofia Virta argued the ruling affirms necessary limits on speech.
73 Articles
73 Articles
Finland Convicts Politician for Speaking Out Against Homosexuality
I previously wrote about Finland’s prosecution of Christian Democrat MP Päivi Räsänen for raising objections to homosexuality. She has now been convicted with a decision this week from the Finnish Supreme Court. Free speech is now in a free fall in Finland. Räsänen is a Christian Democratic member of parliament and former Minister of the Interior. Räsänen is also a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland and is married to a pastor.…
Finland's Päivi Räsänen Convicted For 'Insulting' Homosexuals
In a 3-2 decision, the Finnish Supreme Court convicted Dr. Päivi Räsänen and Lutheran Bishop Juhana Pohjola of “insulting” homosexual-identified individuals in a church pamphlet written and published in 2004. According to ADF International, which coordinated their defense along with criminal defense lawyer Matti Sankamo, “She was charged under a section of the Finnish criminal code titled “war crimes and crimes against humanity for sharing her …
Päivi Räsänen and the Failure of Hate Speech Laws
On March 26, the Supreme Court of Finland handed down its verdict in the case of Päivi Räsänen, a doctor, grandmother, and long-serving member of the Finnish parliament. The court found her guilty of “insult” for a church pamphlet she wrote in 2004, in which she expressed her views on sexual morality. On the basis of the decades-old pamphlet, she has been criminally convicted for “making available to the public a text that insults a group.” Finl…
Assolata per un tweet del 2019 in cui citava São Paulo, ma punita per un pamphleto del 2004 dove si espresso sulla homosexualità.Una absolution e una connunciata.So it ended, in a bitter mixture of joy and disappointment, the procedural process that for seven years saw attributed Päivi Räsänen, class 1959, doctor, Finnish Parliamentary of Suomen Kristillisdemokratit, the Christian Democrats of Finland, and former Minister of the Interior. Everyt…
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