HELSINKI (13 November 2023) – The Helsinki Court of Appeal is expected to rule on the cases of Päivi Räsänen and Bishop Juhana Pohjola on 14 November. Both were on trial from 31 August to 1 September on charges of “hate speech” for publicly expressing their religious beliefs. The August trial followed a unanimous acquittal in March 2022, after which the Finnish prosecutor appealed.
Räsänen, a Finnish parliamentarian and former interior minister, had expressed her beliefs on marriage and sexual ethics in a 2019 tweet, a 2019 radio discussion and a 2004 church booklet. Bishop Pohjola was charged with publishing Räsänen’s booklet. Her case attracted global attention this year, as human rights experts expressed concern about the threat the case posed to freedom of expression in Finland and beyond.
“In a free society, everyone should be able to peacefully express their beliefs without fear of persecution. This is the foundation of any free and democratic society. We hope that the Helsinki Court of Appeal will uphold this fundamental freedom by confirming Räsänen’s acquittal by the District Court last year. The criminalisation of speech through so-called ‘hate speech’ laws silences important public debate and poses a grave threat to our democracies,” said Paul Coleman, Executive Director of ADF International, which was part of Räsänen’s legal defence team.
Press conference at 15:30 CET
ADF International will hold a press conference on Tuesday 14 November at 15:30 CET. Dr Päivi Räsänen MP, Bishop Juhana Pohjola and Paul Coleman, Executive Director of ADF International, will be available for questions after their statements.
Holding certain biblical beliefs deemed ‘criminal’
During the high-profile trial, the prosecution attacked core Christian teachings, cross-examining Räsänen – one of Finland’s longest-serving MPs – and the bishop on their theology. In her opening statement at the appeal hearing on 31 August, Finnish prosecutor Anu Mantila claimed that ‘you can quote the Bible, but it is Räsänen’s interpretation and opinion of the Bible verses that is criminal’.
Elsewhere in the cross-examination, Räsänen was asked several times by the prosecutor whether she would update or remove what she said about marriage and sexuality in her 2004 church booklet, “Male & Female He Created Them”.
“The core of the prosecutor’s questioning of Räsänen was this: would she recant her beliefs? The answer was no – she would not deny the teachings of her faith. The cross-examination bore all the hallmarks of a medieval ‘heresy’ trial; the implication was that Räsänen had ‘blasphemed’ against the prevailing orthodoxies of the time,” said Coleman, author of Censored: How European Hate Speech Laws Threaten Free Speech.
The prosecution also argued that the intention behind the expression of faith was irrelevant. Räsänen should have known that her words could be offensive to certain people and should therefore have refrained from expressing her beliefs. Nor did it matter, according to the prosecutor, whether what she had written was “true” (i.e. that her statements reflected a widely held Christian position); what mattered was that it was perceived as offensive.
The police investigation into Räsänen began in June 2019, after Räsänen sent a tweet to the leadership of her church – the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland – questioning its official sponsorship of the Helsinki Pride Parade. She accompanied the question with a picture of Bible verses from the book of Romans.
Räsänen was questioned by the police for a total of 13 hours over several months. In April 2021, Finland’s attorney general formally charged Räsänen with three counts of “agitation against a minority group” for publicly expressing her views on marriage and human sexuality in a 2004 church pamphlet – which she wrote before the law she was charged under was even enacted – and for comments she made on a radio show in 2019, in addition to the tweet. Lutheran Bishop Juhana Pohjola was also charged for publishing Räsänen’s 2004 church booklet for his congregation. The charges fall under the war crimes and crimes against humanity sections of the Finnish Penal Code.
Räsänen has been a member of the Finnish Parliament since 1995. She was the leader of the Christian Democrats from 2004 to 2015 and the Minister of the Interior from 2011 to 2015. During this time she was responsible for church affairs in Finland.