by Oliver Partridge, GB News
A politician from Finland has been found guilty of hate speech over a 22-year-old church pamphlet.
The Nordic country’s Supreme Court delivered a split verdict in the long-running case against parliamentarian Päivi Räsänen, finding her guilty of hate speech over a church publication from 2004 addressing marriage and sexual ethics.
The Supreme Court simultaneously cleared the veteran politician unanimously regarding a social media post from 2019 that featured a biblical passage.
Ms Räsänen, who previously served as Finland’s Interior Minister, is also a qualified medical doctor and grandmother to twelve children.
Lutheran Bishop Juhana Pohjola was convicted alongside her for the pamphlet, which was originally written for their church more than two decades ago.
Kristen Waggoner, CEO of Alliance Defending Freedom, warned that punishing peaceful expression rooted in religious conviction “undermines the very foundation of free societies”.
According to the court’s findings, Ms Räsänen and the Bishop were found to have “made available to the public and kept available to the public opinions that insult homosexuals as a group on the basis of their sexual orientation”.
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