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Finland: ex-minister in court for homophobic remarks

2022-01-24T12:52:02.450Z


Coming with the Bible in hand, the former Finnish Minister of the Interior Päivi Räsänen has been on trial since Monday January 24 by a court in Helsinki...


Coming with the Bible in hand, the former Finnish Minister of the Interior Päivi Räsänen has been on trial since Monday, January 24 by a Helsinki court for incitement to hatred for remarks condemning homosexuality.

The one who was also the leader of the Christian Democrat party notably described homosexuality as a "

disorder of psychosexual development

" and homosexuals as "

dysfunctional

" people, according to the indictment consulted by AFP .

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One of the charges against Päivi Räsänen relates to a tweet from June 2019, in which she blamed the Finnish Lutheran Church for associating itself with Pride celebrations - accusing the organization of "

bringing shame and sin as a matter of pride

”.

The message was accompanied by a photo of a passage from the New Testament describing homosexual acts as "

shameful

" and "

unnatural

".

“An affront to the dignity of homosexuals”

"

This statement is an affront to the equality and dignity of homosexuals and is likely to provoke contempt, intolerance and even hatred towards homosexuals

," said the prosecution, which requested a fine proportional to the income from the defendant, i.e. a sum which could exceed 13,000 euros. For his part, Päivi Räsänen rejects the accusations and assured the press that he had acted in the name of "

freedom of expression and religion

" when he arrived at his trial on Monday, a Bible in his hand.

I hope it will be clear today that I do not wish to offend any group of people, but that it is about saving people for eternal life

,” she defended.

Bishop Juhana Pohjola is also accused of incitement to hatred for having published the remarks of Päivi Räsänen on the website of the Luther Foundation of Finland.

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Irony of the trial: Päivi Räsänen, Minister of the Interior between 2011 and 2015, is the one who passed the current Finnish law on incitement to hatred.

It never occurred to me that my own writings might one day be illegal

,” she defended herself on Monday.

Currently in opposition, the Christian Democratic Party won 3.9% in the last legislative elections of 2019 and has five deputies in Parliament, including Päivi Räsänen.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2022-01-24

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