Finnish MP and former Interior Minister Päivi Räsänen has announced that she will appeal against the judgment of the Supreme Court of Finland at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).
In March 2026, the Finnish Supreme Court found parliamentarian Päivi Räsänen guilty of “hate speech” relating to the expression of her beliefs on marriage and sexual ethics for “making and keeping available to the public a text that insults a group”.
“I trust that the ECtHR will recognize the need to safeguard freedom of speech and religion in Finland and across Europe,” she said in a statement released yesterday.
“I hope that in Strasbourg it will be acknowledged that the peaceful expression of convictions is not a crime, and that the Court will affirm everyone’s right to express their views without fear of state censorship,” she added.
In her 2004 pamphlet, Päivi Räsänen expressed concerns about the social and psychological effects of “normalising same-sex relationships” on children and adolescents.
Commenting on the Supreme Court judgment**,** she pointed out what she sees as a contradiction or troubling standard in the court’s reasoning.
“The Supreme Court itself stated that the pamphlet did not incite violence or threaten hostility but nevertheless considered it to be “insulting to homosexuals as a group**,”**” she said.
With the case now going to the ECtHR, it will be a litmus test for Christian views and freedom of speech in Europe.
“My writings and views may be freely opposed and criticized, but labeling opinions as crimes seriously restricts freedom of expression,” she said.
The appeal to the ECtHR is the final legal avenue for the conviction to be challenged.
According to ADF International, a faith-based, conservative Christian legal advocacy group, the ruling could have “significant global implications for freedom of speech”.
“The retroactive censorship of a 20-year-old booklet produced by and for a church community is among the most chilling developments in the ongoing attack on freedom of speech across Europe,” said Lorcán Price, legal counsel with ADF International, serving on Räsänen’s legal team.
Finnish Justice Minister Leena Meri sided with Räsänen over the conviction. She believes that the current legislation is “not sufficiently precise and especially not predictable as required by the principle of legality in the criminal code”.
The case has already taken on an international dimension.
In February this year, she testified at the US Capitol in Washington during a hearing titled “Europe’s Threat to American Speech and Innovation,” alongside Irish comedy writer and journalist Graham Linehan.
The hearing focused on how European censorship laws could affect freedom of speech in the United States.
