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Posted on 05/07/2026 8:04:43 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Finnish parliamentarian Päivi Räsänen announced Thursday that she is appealing to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) after the Supreme Court of Finland found her guilty of hate speech in March for a 22-year-old pamphlet condemning homosexuality.
"The failure of the Finnish Supreme Court to uphold freedom of speech has set a dangerous precedent in my country and across Europe. I feel it is my duty to appeal this decision, to reinstate respect for the basic human right that all are free to peacefully express their views in the public square," Räsänen said, according to a press release from the nonprofit legal group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International.
Räsänen, who led Finland's Christian Democratic Party from 2004 to 2015 and served as the country's interior minister from 2011 to 2015, was convicted on March 26 in a slim 3-2 ruling against her under Chapter 11 of the Finnish Penal Code, which deals with "agitation against a minority group."
The high court ruled that because Räsänen's pamphlet from 2004 argued that homosexuality is intrinsically disordered, it could be seen to "insult homosexuals as a group on the basis of their sexual orientation."
Räsänen was ordered to pay a fine of €1,800 (about $2,080), and the court ordered the destruction of all physical and digital copies of the pamphlet, which was titled "Male and Female He Created Them: Homosexual relationships challenge the Christian concept of humanity."
Bishop Juhana Pohjola of the Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland, who published the pamphlet with Räsänen more than 20 years ago, was also found guilty because of the decades-old pamphlet.
The pamphlet was initially discovered during a separate police investigation that began in 2019 in response to criminal complaints Räsänen faced for her tweet that year that cited Romans 1:24–27 to rebuke the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland for promoting LGBT pride events.
The grandmother of 12 was consequently dragged into court multiple times over six years and acquitted twice by lower courts. The Finnish Supreme Court acquitted Räsänen on the initial tweet that launched her ordeal, ruling she was not guilty of hate speech because the tweet justified her view by citing a biblical text.
Räsänen's appeal to the ECHR comes as her case has drawn high-profile attention and free speech concerns throughout the world, including from the U.S. State Department.
"I know I am not alone in facing unjust persecution under 'hate speech' laws that make sharing Christian beliefs a criminal offense," Räsänen said. "I make my appeal in the hope that the European Court of Human Rights will recognize that peacefully expressing one's beliefs is never a crime, and ensure that this basic freedom is protected for all."
Räsänen has been using her situation to warn about the encroaching threats to free speech in the Western world under the guise of tolerance. During a recent interview with The Christian Post, she framed her guilty verdict as an example of an attempt by those in power to chill the speech of other Christians who might speak out against sexual immorality.
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