The Finnish representative who was put on trial for quoting the Bible has been acquitted

On Tuesday morning, the Finnish Court of Appeal issued a verdict, which also acquitted Finnish representative Päivi Räsänen of the charges brought against her. The former Finnish interior minister was accused of inciting hatred and incitement against a minority, after citing the words of the apostle Pál in a publication and a Twitter post in favor of natural marriage, Hetek reported .

Päivi Räsänen has been going to court for four years now because she criticized her church on Twitter and confronted her with the fact that the stand for Pride conflicts with the teachings of the Apostle Paul. After the district court's acquittal,  the state prosecutor appealed against the decision, and the Finnish Court of Appeal is called upon to make a decision again in the case, which the Christian world says is historic. By the way, the prosecutor recommended a fine against the representative.

After the acquittal verdict, the Finnish representative thanked all those who supported her during this period at a press conference, but above all she is grateful to God for the court's decision. He added that he expected this verdict, because it never occurred to him that he would have done anything against the law with his writings and statements. He emphasized

it is a fundamental right of everyone in a democratic state to express their opinion - and this right must be protected by the court. 

Päivi said that when she was elected as a representative in 1995, she expected many challenges, but not that she would be sued because of a biblical quote and her Christian worldview. The investigation and court proceedings against the representative have been ongoing for the fourth year. He reminded her that

he could have avoided all this ordeal if he retracted his claims,

during the police interview alone, he was asked three times if he was willing to delete the relevant post from his page. This the representative obviously refused to do.

In addition to Päivi Räsänen, there were several large movements in Budapest . Before the verdict of the district court, thousands of people gathered in front of the Finnish embassy , ​​and before the appeal hearing, hundreds of people held a public Bible reading action also at the same location.

Photo: Twitter/Paivi Rasanen