Finnish Christian Democratic MP Dr Päivi Räsänen has declared she is ‘ready to defend free speech and freedom of religion’.
Her statement comes as the Prosecutor General for Finland announced that she would – for the second time - appeal against Mrs Räsänen’s prior acquittals, and take the case before Finland’s Supreme Court. Both the District Court and the Court of Appeal had, in a series of court battles stretching back almost two years, earlier rejected all charges against her and Lutheran bishop Juhana Pohjola.
Rasanen was prosecuted in the lower courts for calling homosexual practice ‘a shameful sin’ and for writing a brochure entitled ‘Male and female He created them’. A third charge, concerning her remarks on a radio show ‘What did Jesus think about homosexuals?’ has been dropped, the Prosecutor-General giving no further explanation for the decision. Rasanen’s lawyer says she has therefore ‘won’ this part of the case.
