Finnish lawmaker Päivi Räsänen said Friday that a state prosecutor has asked the nation’s Supreme Court to hear an appeal of her most recent acquittal on hate speech charges stemming from a social media message quoting Bible verses opposing homosexuality.
In November, an appeals court acquitted Ms. Räsänen, after a district court in 2022 also acquitted her. Unlike the United States, Finland permits prosecutors to appeal acquittals. Because Scripture verses were at the center of one of the charges, the case has been dubbed the “Bible trial” by observers.
“I am ready to continue to defend free speech and freedom of religion before the [Finnish] Supreme Court, and, if need be, before the European Court of Human Rights,” said the evangelical Christian and former interior minister, adding that she was “totally surprised” by the appeal.
Ms. Räsänen said a victory in the nation’s highest court “would establish a legal precedent on freedom of expression and religion.”
A central issue is a June 2019 message the lawmaker posted on X, then known as Twitter, where she posted a photograph of Romans 1:24-27 in asking why the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland had agreed to sponsor a gay pride event.
“The target of my criticism was not a minority, but the leadership of my own denomination,” Ms. Räsänen wrote.
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