Finnish MP Päivi Räsänen is praying that she is going to finally be exonerated of hate speech charges over her biblical views on marriage and sexuality after the case against her was heard by the Supreme Court on Thursday.
Mrs Räsänen, former Minister of the Interior, was first charged in 2019 over comments she made in a tweet and a pamphlet co-published with Lutheran Bishop Juhana Pohjola, who was also charged.
Despite having at one time been the boss of the Finnish police, she was subjected to a 13-hour interrogation over her beliefs and charged after she refused to delete her tweet and apologize for her comments.
Mrs Räsänen and Bishop Pohjola were each later cleared by the District Court of Helsinki and the Court of Appeal however the state prosecution was not satisfied and appealed to the Finnish Supreme Court, which heard the case on Thursday.
Speaking to reporters after the hearing, Mrs Räsänen, 65, said that the case was a “significant moment” not just for them personally but for Finland and other European states more widely.
“Whatever the consequence of this trial is, my conscience is evident and my faith is firm,” she said.
“My hope is that this ruling will affirm the correct of all and sundry to specific their beliefs freely without fear and without punishment.”
Bishop Pohjola said he told the panel of judges on Thursday that “any possible conviction wouldn’t only stigmatise me, and the Lutheran Church body that I lead, as criminals but send a dangerous signal to all Christians and Christian denominations, and such an consequence wouldn’t contribute to constructing a genuinely free society happy with its rule of law.”
Both Mrs Räsänen and Bishop Pohjola are being supported of their case by the Alliance Defending Freedom International (ADF).
Their legal counsel, Matti Sankamo, is hopeful that they can be cleared of all charges by the Supreme Court. It will not be certain when the decision can be issued – possibly by Spring 2026, he said – but when it’s handed down it’ll be final.
ADF executive director, Paul Coleman, said that “the stakes are extremely high”. If the prosecution succeeds, it’ll “set a recent low for freedom of expression in Europe and specifically for Christians”, while also opening the door for the criminalisation of many other people in Finland who’ve expressed similar views publicly, he said.
Conversely, if the Supreme Court upholds the not guilty verdicts of the lower courts, it’ll “set a really strong precedent in Finland … and strengthen the legal standard whether [people] agree with Päivi or not”.
If found guilty, Mrs Räsänen and Bishop Pohjola face a fantastic of 10,000 euros each and the censorship of their comments.
“The heart of this trial is the query: whether teachings related to the Bible will be presented, and whether it continues to be permissible to agree with the Bible even when it contradicts the major ideology of the society,” she said.
Mrs Räsänen said that although there had been some “dark moments” within the last seven years, she had also experienced quite a lot of “joy” and the goodness of God, with people even telling her they’d began to read the Bible for the primary time or come to faith consequently of her legal battle.
Reflecting on her feelings at this stage in her long struggle, she said she felt “very calm and assured”.
“I actually have felt on a regular basis, from the start, that this process has been in God’s hands and I trust that He will bring this to the tip, regardless of the result can be,” she said.
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