A Finnish member of parliament has launched an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) following her conviction of hate speech for expressing Christian views on marriage and sexuality. On March 26, 2026, the Finnish Supreme Court found the former leader of the Finnish Christian Democrats Päivi Räsänen guilty by a 3-2 decision, with one charge relating to views expressed in a 2004 church booklet.
The church booklet, authored by Päivi in 2004, led to her conviction on the grounds that “after a preliminary investigation into the matter was launched in 2019, Päivi continued to share the article on her own internet and social media pages in 2019 and 2020.”
