Remember back in 2019 when Finnish parliamentarian, grandmother and Christian church leader, Paivi Rasanen, was charged with the crimes of “hate speech” and violating “War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity”, simply for sharing Bible verses and traditional Christian teachings about sexuality. Her social media post simply asked why her denomination, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, would participate in an LGBTQ Pride march. The post included a photo of Romans 1:24-27.
At the time, Police arrested the 63-year-old grandmother and subjected her to 13 hours of interrogation before laying charges.
Fortunately The Court of Appeals in Finland has this month unanimously acquitted Päivi Räsänen of all charges, stating that the law required the post to be intended to offend, and “there must be an overriding social reason for interfering with and restricting freedom of expression.” (note – Last March 30, a three-judge panel of the Helsinki District Court had also unanimously acquitted her, but the prosecutors then appealed to The Court of Appeals).
Unwillingly to accept this latest unanimous ruling from The Court of Appeals, the prosecutor, Anu Mantila, told Finnish media he is “seriously considering” appealing to the Supreme Court of Finland. (** Is this sounding very much like the same ongoing legal tactics used by NZ Charities Commission to deregister Family First?)
**Note – This post was written by Family First staff writers.
Read this latest story of Paivi Rasanen here.
Also watch our earlier McBlogs on this subject…
