11/21/2019
Coalition MPs criticize Dr. Päivi Räsänen's pre-trial investigation:
Jukka Kopra even compares the situation with the activities of the East German secret police, STASI, and with the N**i censorship system during the WW2 era.
Coalition MPs Jukka Kopra and Heikki Vestman take a strong stand on the decision by the Prosecutor General to open a pre-trial investigation of the 15 year old booklet by Christian Group leader, Päivi Räsänen MD.
- I never thought I'd ever come back, but amazingly, censorship seems to be here again.
- The idea that Finland is beginning to resemble the former East Germany comes to mind, as we seem to only one side about some things.
According to Kopra, the situation is a sign that the state of freedom of expression is under threat in Finland.
- The prevailing trend is that there is only one thing on which one can agree. If you dare to express different opinions, you will be silenced, he writes on his blog :
https://www.jukkakopra.fi/ajankohtaista/sanavapauden-tila-suomessa/
(Use Google translate browser plugin to read in English)
KOPRA believes that Finland seems to have created an "elite of conscious circles that actively monitor differing opinions".
- If someone is offending, for example, immigrants or sexual minorities, there may be at least a public verdict or even a request for an criminal investigation.
ACCORDING to the PROSECUTOR GENERAL , there is reason to suspect that Dr. Räsänen, in her 2004 booklet "Man and Woman He Made Them", has denigrated homosexuals in an offensive manner and has incited incitement against the people.
The police previously refused to open a preliminary investigation for the same writing.
Read more: Päivi Räsänen's 15-year-old writing is a criminal investigation - "I won't back down"
https://www.is.fi/politiikka/art-2000006296277.html
According to Vestman, the differing views of the police and the Prosecutor General over crossing the pre-trial threshold indicate that the Criminal Code's provision of incitement against the people is not working.
- How would a citizen evaluate this, Vestman wonders in his press release.
- I think some limit here has been crossed. The police are doing their job here, which is understandable. But ineffective and unclear legislation is definitely a matter for the legislator.
Heikki Vestman, Member of the National Coalition Party said that Incitement against minorities was added to the Criminal Code in its current form, seven years after the publication of the Dr. Räsänen's pamphlet. He therefore asks how it is possible to anticipate any future legislative changes when it comes to people's views. This is an impossible situation from the point of view prosecution by retroactive legislation.
ACCORDING to the PROSECUTOR GENERAL , the duration of the crime is as long as the publication is available to the public and disseminated. Dr. Räsänen's booklet is still available in full on the Internet.
Under the Criminal Code, the statute of limitations for murder is only 20 years, but according to the Prosecutor General, Word Crime limitations are when the text can no longer be read. By this interpretation, offensive opinion crimes can be equated with a murder, that never expires.
Vestman also brings up the parallel.
"Will we now go through the libraries and, for example, put Luther's inappropriate writings in the rubble?"
BOOK BURNING:
- "This means that everything that is on the web, in libraries, bookstores, antique shops, flea markets and not suitable at this time must be destroyed. Otherwise, the crime is committed", Sari Essayah says.
In addition to the 2004 pamphlet, police have launched an investigation into a June 17, 2019 tweet published by Räsänen in in which he described the Helsinki Pride event as a pride for sin and shame and criticized the church's involvement in the event.
Read more: Päivi Räsänen read the law and the word of God in a nearly 4-hour interrogation to the police: "It felt like this was not going to end here".
See also:
"In a nearly 4-hour interrogation, Päivi Räsänen read the law and God's word to the police: "It felt like this was not going to end here"
https://www.is.fi/kotimaa/art-2000006293826.html
