The Helsinki District Court has set the date for the hearing in the censorship case [1] of Finnish Member of Parliament, Päivi Räsänen.
In April, the Finnish Prosecutor General brought three criminal charges against her. The former Minister of the Interior now faces two years imprisonment or a fine. The medical doctor is accused of having engaged in “hate speech” for publicly repeating biblical teaching on human sexuality and marriage in a 2004 pamphlet, for comments made on a 2019 radio show and a 2019 tweet directed at her church leadership. She has said attending gay pride parades is a “sin”. [2]
“I await the court proceedings with a calm mind, confident that Finland will respect the freedom of expression and religion enshrined in fundamental rights and international conventions. I will not back down from my conviction based on the Bible and I am ready to defend freedom of expression and religion in all necessary courts. I cannot accept that voicing religious beliefs could mean imprisonment. I will defend my right to confess my faith, so that no one else would be deprived of their right to freedom of religion and speech,” said Päivi Räsänen.