Finnish court acquits politician who supported true marriage

A member of Finland’s Parliament Tuesday was acquitted of “hate crime” charges after she supported marriage between a man and a woman.

Sixty-three-year-old Päivi Räsänen was facing two years in prison and thousands of euros in fines for publishing a pamphlet for her church titled “As Man and Woman He Created Them” which cited the Bible’s exclusive endorsement of marriage between man and woman. In a 2019 tweet, Räsänen criticized Finland’s Evangelical Lutheran Church for sponsoring a same-sex celebration event, questioning such a move’s consistency with the Bible. That year she also expressed the same sentiment in a radio debate.

For those actions, Räsänen was charged with “ethnic agitation” which falls under “war crimes and crimes against humanity” in the Finnish criminal code. Finnish Lutheran Bishop Juhana Pohjola, who helped Räsänen write the 2004 pamphlet, was tried alongside her. 

Though a Finnish district court dismissed all charges against them last year, prosecutors appealed the case. But on Tuesday the Helsinki Court of Appeals also dismissed the charges, saying there is “no reason, on the basis of the evidence received at the main hearing, to assess the case in any respect differently from the District Court. There is therefore no reason to alter the final result of the District Court’s judgment.”  

“I am deeply relieved. The court has fully endorsed and upheld the decision of the district court, which recognized everyone’s right to free speech,” Räsänen said after the ruling. 

“It isn’t a crime to tweet a Bible verse, or to engage in public discourse with a Christian perspective. The attempts made to prosecute me for expressing my beliefs have resulted in an immensely trying four years, but my hope is that the result will stand as a key precedent to protect the human right to free speech. I sincerely hope other innocent people will be spared the same ordeal for simply voicing their convictions.”

Räsänen, a mother of five and grandmother of ten, spent an estimated 13 hours in interrogation after the Finnish Prosecutor General indicted her last year.

Prosecutors argued in court last week that while quoting the Bible is permissible, Räsänen’s interpretations of the Bible are criminal. And even if her Biblical exegesis is correct, added the prosecutor, it is “offensive to certain people” and therefore should not have been said.

“You can cite the Bible, but it is Räsänen’s interpretation and opinion about the Bible verses that are criminal,” said Finnish State Prosecutor Anu Mantila.