Finnish politician found guilty of 'hate speech' over 22-year-old church pamphlet

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".

The judges noted, however, that the material did not encourage violence or contain comparable threatening incitement to hatred.

The court declared: "It must be taken into account that the text forming the basis for the conviction did not contain incitement to violence or comparable threat-like fomenting of hatred.

"The conduct is therefore not particularly serious in terms of the nature of the offense".

The politician had previously been cleared of all charges unanimously by two lower courts, before the prosecution mounted a third appeal to the Supreme Court.

The original proceedings saw her face trial in early 2022, and again in 2023, over three matters - the tweet containing scripture, a radio discussion from 2019, and the church booklet.

The Supreme Court only considered two charges, as prosecutors did not challenge the radio debate acquittal.

The ruling follows the court's hearing of the case in October 2025.

The conviction falls under a provision of Finnish criminal law categorised within the section covering war crimes and crimes against humanity, specifically for making and maintaining public access to material that insults a group.

A crucial factor in the conviction was that Ms Räsänen continued sharing the pamphlet on her personal websites and social media accounts in 2019 and 2020, after investigators began examining the matter.

She has been ordered to pay criminal fines amounting to several thousand euros, with the offending material to be removed and destroyed.

Ms Räsänen is now seeking legal counsel about potentially taking her case to the European Court of Human Rights.

She said: "I am taking legal advice on a possible appeal to the European Court of Human Rights. This is not about my free speech alone, but that of every person in Finland.

"A positive ruling would help to prevent other innocent people from experiencing the same ordeal for simply sharing their beliefs".

Paul Coleman, Executive Director of ADF International, which coordinated her legal defence, welcomed the tweet acquittal, but condemned the pamphlet conviction.

"The conviction for a simple church pamphlet published decades ago before the law under which she has been convicted was even passed is an outrageous example of state censorship", he said.

"This decision will create a severe chilling effect for everyone's right to speak freely".