Finnish member of parliament and former interior minister, Päivi Räsänen, continues to fight against attempts to muzzle her Christian views on marriage, by filing an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights. This after being convicted for expressing Christian beliefs in a 2004 pamphlet.
Having appealed the decision to the European Court of Human Rights, this is her final legal opportunity to overturn the conviction.
Two lower courts unanimously acquitted her in 2022 and 2023, but following an appeal by the state prosecutor to Finland’s Supreme Court, she was convicted in a 3-2 decision in late March 2026.
The Court also convicted Lutheran Bishop Juhana Pohjola, and the Luther Foundation Finland for participating in the creation of the pamphlet. All three individuals are facing thousands of dollars in fines, and statements from the booklet are to be removed from public access and destroyed.
According to legal advocacy group ADF International, which is representing Räsänen before the European Court, the issues began in 2021 when Räsänen was arrested and charged under a section of the Finnish criminal code titled “war crimes and crimes against humanity” for agitation against a minority group. Specifically for her 2019 tweet and participation in a live radio debate expressing Christian beliefs about marriage and human sexuality, along with the 2004 booklet.
She is an active member of the Finnish Lutheran church, and has publicly questioned the church’s official sponsorship of the LGBT event ‘Pride 2019’. A tweet of a bible verse accompanied this criticism. Over several months, Päivi attended a total of thirteen hours of police interviews about her views. The Finnish Prosecutor General then brought three criminal charges against her at the end of April 2021.
In the appeal, the state prosecutor specifically mentioned the 2019 tweet and the 2004 booklet. When the case was heard October 30, 2025, the court upheld the acquittal for the Bible verse tweet but convicted her for the publication of the booklet .
Notably, in its decision, the Supreme Court applied a law that was not yet introduced when the booklet was published. It came despite the court’s own acknowledgment that the booklet contained no “incitement to violence or comparable threat-like fomenting of hatred.” The case is particularly significant as the outcome of Räsänen’s appeal is likely to influence how courts across the continent deal with hate speech and protections for religious freedom.