SC upholds ban on Neo-Nazi PVL

The Supreme Court (Korkein oikeus) on Tuesday upheld the verdict of the appeal court banning the Nordic Resistance Movement (Finnish acronym PVL) in Finland.

“The Supreme Court (Korkein oikeus) has decided to abolish the Nordic Resistance Movement,” said the Finnish Police on their official Twitter page on Tuesday morning.

The National Police Board took the initiative to ban the organisation and it has finally been implemented following the Supreme Court verdict after several rounds of appeals made by the organisation.

The organisation’s involvement in hate speech and violence against foreigners and Jews, among other things were the logical grounds for banning the group.

The Turku Court of Appeal on 28 September 2018 upheld the ban imposed by the Pirkanmaa District Court in 2017 on Suomen Vastarintaliike (Finnish Resistance Movement), the Finnish chapter of the neo-Nazi group Nordic Resistance Movement (PVL).

The group triggered off a storm of debate, discussion, and condemnation in September 2016, following the death of a man being assaulted during a neo-Nazi rally at the Helsinki Central Railway Station. People from all professions and social strata voiced strong protests against the incident. On 24 September 2016, more than 15,000 people gathered in Helsinki and condemned racism and violence.

In October 2017, a Finnish member of the organisation was sentenced to two years of imprisonment for his involvement in the incident of assault that took place in September 2016.

In November 2017, the Pirkanmaa District Court banned the activities of the Nordic Resistance Movement (PVL) as well as its regional chapters and the PVL-linked Pohjoinen Perinne or Nordic Tradition group.

The PVL appealed against the ruling but the Turku Court of Appeal overruled the appeal. The appeal court’s decision in effect makes it illegal for the Nordic Resistance Movement to mobilise, demonstrate or propagandise in Finland.

The Nordic Resistance Movement was founded in Sweden in 1996 and later branched out to the rest of the Nordic countries, i.e., Finland, Norway, Iceland, and Denmark.