A Finnish Member of Parliament faces a police investigation because of a tweet she posted in June 2019. Critics say the move is a direct attack on free speech.
Päivi Räsänen directed the tweet at the leadership of her Church and questioned its official sponsorship of the LGBT event “Pride 2019”, accompanied by an image of a bible text. After attending a lengthy police interview in November 2019, she now faces a second interrogation on March 2 regarding a pamphlet she wrote over 16 years ago on human sexuality for a Christian foundation.
The leader of a confessional Lutheran denomination in Finland was also questioned by the police about his responsibility in the distribution of the same pamphlet, “Male and Female He Created Them”, a 24-page booklet published in 2004.
The booklet gives a traditional Christian understanding of human anthropology and sexuality.
Commenting on the case, Paul Coleman of Alliance Defending Freedom said: “In a free society, everyone should be allowed to share their beliefs without fear of censorship. This is the foundation of every free and democratic society. Criminalising speech through so-called ‘hate-speech’ laws shuts down important public debates and poses a grave threat to our democracies. These sorts of cases create a culture of fear and censorship and are becoming all too common throughout Europe.”
In Finland, there are a number of laws that regulate speech, including the “ethnic agitation” law – an offence that carries a prison sentence of up to two years.
