On Thursday, the trial of Finnish lawmaker Päivi Räsänen began for allegedly violating the country's "hate speech" laws when she publicly questioned her church's leadership on X for sponsoring a 2019 Pride event and included a picture of a Bible verse.
According to her law team at ADF International, after Räsänen posted the tweet that asked, "How does the doctrine of the church, #raamattu fit in with the fact that shame and sin are raised as a matter of pride?" she was subjected to over 13 hours of police interrogations over the course of several months.
Because of her religious beliefs on marriage and sexuality, Finland's former Prosecutor General brought three criminal hate speech charges against Räsänen. One for the Tweet in question, another for a 2019 radio interview she took part in on the topic, and one for a pamphlet about sexuality and marriage called "As Man and Woman He Created Them," she wrote for the church in 2004.
Lutheran Church Bishop Juhana Pohjola is facing charges alongside Räsänen for publishing the pamphlet at the time. Both were previously unanimously acquitted in 2022 by a Finnish District Court, but prosecutors appealed the decision.
“Everyone should be able to share their beliefs without fearing censorship by state authorities," Räsänen said outside the courtroom. "I know that the prosecution is trying to make an example of me to scare others into silence. Yet, you do not have to align with my views to agree that everyone should be able to speak freely. With God’s help, I will remain steadfast and continue defending everyone’s human right to free speech.”
Executive Director of ADF International Paul Coleman said in a statement, "In a democratic society, everyone should be free to share their beliefs without fear of state prosecution." He continued, "Criminalizing speech through so-called ‘hate-speech’ laws shuts down important public debates and endangers democracy. Cases like Päivi’s create a culture of fear and censorship and are becoming increasingly common worldwide. We hope the Helsinki Court of Appeal will uphold the fundamental right to freedom of speech and clear Päivi Räsänen of these baseless charges."
During the opening day of the trial, the prosecutor started with the 2004 pamphlet and said "The point isn’t whether it is true or not but that this it’s insulting." They also asked Räsänen to be fined for the tweet as well as for her and Pohjola to be fined for the pamphlet. They are asking the radio station which aired the interview to be removed.
Attempting to make their case, the prosecutor claimed this was not a case about theology but it is "Räsänen's interpretation and opinion about the Bible verses that are criminal." She argued that "We can limit freedom of expression in the outward expression of religion. You cannot favor religious speech over secular speech.”
The defense argued that the prosecution misrepresented Räsänen's words. They said, "Paivi [Räsänen] has never said, as the prosecutor claimed, that people identifying as LGBT are not 'equal'. In fact, [she] has expressly stated the opposite - that ALL are equal."
The defense noted, "The pamphlet was indeed published almost 20 years ago, *before* the hate speech law - under which Päivi Räsänen & Bishop Pohjola have been charged - came into effect." They claim the prosecutor "cherry-picked" quotes from the document and took them out of context.
According to the Catholic News Agency, the two face up to two years in prison and tens of thousands of Euros in fines if found guilty of these charges.
Räsänen was re-elected to the Finnish parliament in April 2023 and has served there since 1995. From 2014 to 2015 she was the chair of the Christian Democrats and had responsibility for church affairs in Finland from 2011 and 2015 as the Minister of the Interior.
