Finn MP warning of terrorist threat convicted for hate speech

Finn MP warning of terrorist threat convicted for hate speech

The Oulu District Court in Finland has slapped Finns Party MP Sebastian Tynkkynen with a 4,000-euro fine, or 50 days in jail, for sharing a Facebook post, in which he called on people to "stop denying that there s no link between religion and terrorism."

POLITICS OCTOBER 11. 2019 07:21

The former head of the youth wing of the Eurosceptic True Finns Party was convicted of inciting religious hatred. Tynnkynen gained fame for appearing in the Finnish version of the Big Brother reality show before joining the nationalist, conservative True Finns Party in 2012 and winning a parliamentary seat in the May elections. He regularly throws light on the link between Islam and the perpetrators of terrorist acts on his Facebook page of 12 thousand followers.

Using figures published by EUROJUST, an EU agency for judicial cooperation in criminal matters, he prepared charts in 2018 to demonstrate the ideological commitment of perpetrators of terrorist acts at the time.  When sharing the post, he wrote that „I did a little research to find out and compare the identity of terrorists. They have one thing in common: they all serve Allah… Terrorism knows no religion but Islam.”

Tynkkynen lost his patience in the trial for inciting religious hatred and broke into tears during the third hearing. He apologised and said that „as a politician and a Christian” he could defend himself no further. The court handed him a 300-euro fine and called on Tynkkynen to avoid further hate speech in public.

The current court proceedings were based on another post (now removed) which draws attention to the same phenomenon. In this post, he wrote that „When you hear those empty statements that there is no link between religion and terrorism and that Islam is not responsible for the killings all over the world, shoot down the lies.”

Tynkkynen s followers were anxiously looking forward to the trial on 3 October as the accused MP filed a petition with several thousand signatures requesting to have a video recording taken of the hearing so that he could involve the public. The president of the court Ville Vuorialho rejected the request at the prosecutor s proposal.

When giving his decision, the judge argued that the quoted text could be understood to mean incitement to hatred against all believers of Islam. „The text is overgeneralising and one-sided.”

In his defence against the charges, the True Finns Party lawmaker stressed that he „strongly believes that terrorism has come to Europe from Islamic areas in recent years” and that „it s the duty of politicians to improve their country s situation and ensure the security of its citizens.”

The prosecutor originally called for the court to impose a 60-day fine on the defendant, which the court reduced to 50 days on Thursday. However, Tynkkynen does not have to go to jail if he pays a 4,000-euro fine. The court s decision is not final, the MP can appeal in the coming days.

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facebook-post, finland, finns party, hate speech, Islam, judgement, sebastian tynkkynen, terrorism, trial