Supreme Court convicts MP Päivi Räsänen over hate speech

2026-03-26 - 11:52

Finland’s Supreme Court has fined member of parliament Päivi Räsänen for incitement against a group over a church pamphlet, while clearing her of charges linked to a social media post that cited the Bible. The ruling ends a legal process that lasted close to seven years and has drawn political and legal reaction across the country. The court ruled by a 3–2 vote that Räsänen and Lutheran bishop Juhana Pohjola committed an offence by publishing and keeping available a text that insulted homosexuals as a group. The text formed part of a pamphlet written in 2004 and later shared online in 2019 and 2020.