Bishop Juhana Pohjola and Parliamentarian Paivi Räsänen had been charged with criminal behavior after Räsänen questioned the Finnish Lutheran Church's participation in an LGBT Pride event in 2019.
Päivi Räsänen, Finland s interior minister from 2011 to 2015. / Courtesy of ADF International.Helsinki, Finland, Mar 30, 2022 / 05:05 am (CNA).The verdict in the closely watched trial of a Finnish Christian MP was announced on Wednesday. A court in Helsinki dismissed all charges against Päivi Räsänen, a physician and mother of five, and Juhana Pohjola, a bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland, after a free speech trial that drew international attention.The court said in a unanimous 28-page ruling on March 30 that "it is not for the district court to interpret biblical concepts."It said that Räsänen had sought to "defend the concept of family and marriage between a man and a woman." If some people found the statements offensive, it said, "there must be an overriding social reason for interfering with and restricting freedom of expression."It ordered the state pay legal costs to the defense of more than 60,000 euros (over $66,0
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