Räsänen´s trial on hate speech charges begins

The trial of SuomenKristillisdemokraati (Christian Democratic Party) lawmaker Päivi Räsänen, also a former Interior Minister has begun at the Helsinki District Court on Monday for three counts of incitements against a minority group.

Räsänen was interior minister of the country from 2011 to 2015, and chair of the SuomenKristillisdemokraati for more than one decade till 2015.

One of the charges brought against her is linked to writings on the websites of the Luther Foundation Finland, a conservative reform movement, and the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission while the two other charges are liked to her remarks published in various social media and on national broadcaster Yle radio programme.

The Prosecutor General Office in April 2021 submitted the charges to the Helsinki District Court.

The Prosecutor General considered the remarks as derogatory and discriminatory against homosexuals and violate their equality and dignity.

The Prosecutor General Office, however, dropped the preliminary investigation into another charge against Räsänen related to her remarks on commercial broadcaster MTV's Yökylä programme considering the offence as minor.

According to the Prosecutor General Office, Räsänen wrote, "He created them as men and women. Gay relationships challenge the Christian conception of man."

In her writing, Räsänen´s opinions denigrate homosexuals.

One of the charges relates to a tweet sent by Räsänen in 2019 about that year's Pride parade, in which she asked how "the church's founding doctrine the Bible fits with shame and sin being celebrated as pride," reported National broadcaster Yle.

The tweet included a photograph of verses from the Bible, translated into Finnish between 1933 and 1938, said the Yle report.

During a police interview ahead of the trial, Räsänen said that she had wanted to provoke discussion with her opinion, and not to offend gay people, because she believed these were important issues related to freedom of speech and religion, the Yle added.

"My main concern was that the preliminary investigation, which was already starting or started, could lead to Christians shying away from quoting the Bible and presenting the teachings of the Bible, such as the practicing of homosexuality, about which there are clear teachings in the Bible. And also, that Christians would not start practicing self-censorship. That is why I wanted to tweet about these issues and I consider it important to take a stand on such issues and raise them up," said the Yle report, quoting Räsänen as saying.