Landmark ruling expected in Finnish politician’s Bible tweet case

A verdict is predicted to be handed down today within the long-running case against Finnish Member of Parliament Päivi Räsänen and Lutheran Bishop, Juhana Pohjola.  

Both were charged with “hate speech” after publicly expressing biblical views about marriage and sexuality in a pamphlet they co-published in 2004. 

The charges against Mrs Räsänen, a former Minister of the Interior and boss of the Finnish police, also related to expression of those views in a tweet and comments she made during a live radio debate in 2019. 

In the tweet, she had criticised her denomination, the Evangelical Lutheran Church, for sponsoring a Pride event in Helsinki, and shared a picture of a Bible verse from Romans chapter 1, which states, “The men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for each other. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for his or her error.”

She was charged with “agitation against a minority group” in 2021 under a piece of the Finnish criminal code titled “war crimes and crimes against humanity”. Bishop Pohjola was charged in reference to publishing Räsänen’s 2004 pamphlet.  

Mrs Räsänen and Bishop Pohjola were each later cleared by the District Court of Helsinki and the Court of Appeal however the state prosecution appealed to the Finnish Supreme Court, which heard the case last October. 

Paul Coleman, director of the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which has coordinated their legal defence, said the decision “might be pivotal free of charge speech in Finland and across Europe”. 

“At stake is the elemental right of each individual to precise deeply held beliefs without fear of criminal sanction,” he said. 

“We are hopeful that the court will uphold the rule of law and ensure that peaceful expression, including the sharing of non secular views, stays protected in a free and democratic society.”

If found guilty, Mrs Räsänen and Bishop Pohjola face a effective of 10,000 euros each and the censorship of their comments. Thursday’s decision of the Finnish Supreme Court is final. 

Speaking after last October’s hearing, Mr Coleman said that the stakes within the case are “extremely high”, warning that a guilty verdict would “set a latest 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. 

If, nevertheless, the Supreme Court upholds the previous not guilty verdicts of the lower courts, it should “set a really strong precedent in Finland … and strengthen the legal standard whether [people] agree with Päivi or not”.  

Kristen Waggoner, president of ADF International, said “a 6-year prosecution for tweeting a Bible verse should never have happened in any respect”.

“We can not take liberty without any consideration within the West,” she said.