Päivi Räsänen, a Finnish MP, has once again been cleared of hate speech after quoting the bible.
The result has been widely celebrated by conservative commentators worldwide, with one describing it as a “triumph”. Others said the court win represented a “major victory” for freedom of expression.
In reality, it was neither of these things.
Even leaving aside the fact that Finnish prosecutors will likely appeal the ruling, the fact remains that a criminal case over someone’s citation of the bible should never have reached the courts in the first place. Two decades ago, even charging Räsänen would have likely resulted in massive protests worldwide, as well as numerous condemnations of Finland from governments throughout Europe.
Today: silence.
Authorities inside and outside the European Union continue daily to push for ever-stricter controls on free expression. While their attempts are sometimes rebuffed, other times they succeed in narrowing the definition of legal discourse at the national and European level.
This is not a trend that can be reversed at the judicial level. Politicians do not care about losing legal cases, they care about losing elections. Until they feel that trying to criminalise democratic debate risks damaging their polling numbers, they will continue to crack down.
Peter Caddle
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Ralph Schoellhammer
