Finnish Parliamentarian Convicted under “Hate Speech” Law Files Appeal to European Court of Human Rights
- Päivi Räsänen files appeal to European Court of Human Rights following conviction of “insulting” a group by the Finnish Supreme Court for a 20-year-old church booklet on marriage and sexuality
- Filing comes as Räsänen is denied travel authorisation to enter the UK on account of conviction
- Alliance Defending Freedom to represent Räsänen, Bishop Pohjola and the Luther Foundation in landmark case for free speech across Europe
HELSINKI (24 JULY 2026) – The Finnish parliamentarian criminally convicted for “insulting” a group by Finland’s Supreme Court has filed an application to appeal her conviction to the European Court of Human Rights this week, commencing the final legal juncture of a landmark case for freedom of speech in Europe.
In March 2026, Päivi Räsänen was convicted for expressing her beliefs on marriage and sexual ethics in a 2004 booklet written for her church. Lutheran Bishop Juhana Pohjola and the Luther Foundation Finland were also convicted for publishing the booklet, and alongside Räsänen were ordered to pay thousands of Euros in fines. The court also ruled that the impugned statements within the booklet must be “removed from public access and destroyed”.
Alliance Defending Freedom is representing Räsänen in her appeal to the European Court of Human Rights; the last opportunity to overturn the conviction and the culmination of the parliamentarian’s seven-year legal process.
“Appealing my conviction is about much more than a fine or a decades-old church booklet,” said Räsänen following the filing of her appeal. “My case stands to determine whether the fundamental rights of religious freedom and free speech are still protected in Finland and across Europe, and whether these societies are still willing to stand up for the rights of all – even those they disagree with.”
“Hate speech” laws that criminalise peaceful expression are incompatible with a truly democratic society. As a Member of Parliament and a Christian who has faced censorship and years of criminal investigation, I am profoundly aware of the devastating consequences of curtailing basic liberties. The European Court of Human Rights must decisively uphold these freedoms and promote the common good across Europe.
— Päivi Räsänen
Bishop Juhana Pohjola, who is appealing alongside Räsänen and the Luther Foundation Finland, said: “If authorities can censor religious teaching and dictate how faith leaders instruct their followers, religion becomes a tool of the state rather than a means to freedom and human flourishing. The European Court of Human Rights must recognise this fact, and once again affirm that religious freedom – which is inseparable from freedom of expression – must be protected in a pluralistic and free society.”
Europe’s future at stake
Räsänen’s appeal comes amid growing international concern over freedom of speech in Europe, as Finland and other states employ ambiguous, overbroad “hate speech” legislation that criminalises and discourages the peaceful expression of dissenting views, including certain Christian beliefs.
In July 2026, Räsänen was informed that her Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) needed to travel to the UK had been cancelled, despite her application initially being approved in June. Bishop Pohjola also applied for an ETA and was denied clearance.
The UK authorities explained that the information provided in her application suggested she was “not eligible for an ETA”. As well as being unable to transit through London’s Heathrow Airport in July, Räsänen is concerned that this will prevent her from attending a conference in Belfast at the end of August.
Commenting on the development, Räsänen said: “I have been invited to give the keynote speech at a religious freedom conference in Belfast in August, where I intended to discuss the importance of free speech. I find it shocking and deeply ironic that in a democratic country like the UK, I am being prevented from speaking at a conference about fundamental freedoms due to my conviction for ‘hate speech’.”
“Päivi Räsänen has been criminally convicted for peacefully expressing her Christian beliefs,” said Lorcán Price, barrister at Alliance Defending Freedom, who is representing Räsänen before the European Court. “Her ban from entering the United Kingdom is completely disproportionate and unnecessary.”
“It is clear that Europe is facing a crisis of censorship, of which the conviction for a 20-year-old church booklet is among the most egregious examples. The European Court of Human Rights has long held that freedom of expression protects not only inoffensive ideas, but also those that offend, shock or disturb. No state should have the power to silence disfavoured perspectives, and widely-held Christian beliefs should never be an exception to this rule.
“Europe’s highest court must now decide whether European law will continue to protect the freedom to peacefully express one’s beliefs in the public square; because if peaceful expression like a decades-old church booklet can be criminalised and retroactively censored, free and open debate in Europe is no more. We urge the Court to admit this case, which presents a critical opportunity to reaffirm these basic freedoms and ensure that citizens are not prosecuted for peacefully expressing their beliefs.”
Background
Räsänen, Finland’s former Interior Minister, a medical doctor and grandmother of twelve, was criminally prosecuted for nearly seven years for sharing her Christian beliefs about marriage and human sexuality in a 2019 tweet and live radio debate, as well as for authoring the 2004 church booklet, for which she was charged alongside Bishop Pohjola and the Luther Foundation Finland.
In 2021, Räsänen was formally charged with “agitation against a minority group” under a section of the Finnish criminal code titled “war crimes and crimes against humanity”.
Following unanimous acquittals on all charges by two lower courts in 2022 and 2023, the state prosecutor appealed again to the Finnish Supreme Court regarding the tweet and church booklet. The case was heard in October 2025, and in March 2026 the Supreme Court upheld the acquittal for the Bible verse tweet, but convicted Räsänen, the Bishop and the Luther Foundation Finland for the 2004 booklet. The radio show charge was not appealed to the Supreme Court, so that acquittal stands.
The Supreme Court convicted Räsänen under a law that was introduced years after the booklet was published, and did so despite the court’s admission that the booklet “did not contain incitement to violence or comparable threat-like fomenting of hatred”. An application to the European Court of Human Rights is the final legal opportunity for the conviction to be overturned, and marks a seminal moment for the fundamental right to free speech to be upheld in Finland and throughout Europe.
