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Finland Supreme Court (Korkein oikeus / Högsta domstolen) 2022 Finland / Supreme Court / ECLI:FI:KKO:2022:63 Migrant status Muslims A had published on his YouTube channel videos which included speeches in two demonstrations. The videos were in English, but A had added subtitles in Finnish and several other languages. The speaker described immigrants and Muslims as “cruel, arrogant, stupid, worthless, and sick” and held that these groups of people should be “kicked out of the country”. In 2020, the district court convicted A for incitement to hatred to a fine. The appeal court upheld the decision. In the Supreme Court, A… View more
Finland Turku Administrative Court (Turun hallinto-oikeus / Åbo förvaltningsdomstol) 2022 Finland / Turku Administrative Court / H95/2022, 20590/03.04.04.04.03/2020 Religion Muslims The complainant X had worked as a guard in a police prison. In his free time, X had posted on his Facebook site several comments relating, e.g., to sexual offences in which many of the suspected perpetrators were Muslim asylum seekers or refugees. In that context, he had referred to Muslim asylum seekers as parasites, rapists and pedophiles. The posts had been published during a period of close to 18 months. X had also indicated in the posts that he is police personnel. In October 2020, the… View more
Finland District Court of Länsi-Uusimaa (Länsi-Uudenmaan käräjäoikeus / Västra Nylands tingsrätt) - National court 2021 Finland / District Court of Länsi-Uusimaa Migrant status Migrants X had participated in an anti-migrant discussion on another person’s open and public Facebook page. In his comments X called migrants “child rapists”. He also suggested that contract killers are hired to hunt down migrants as animals and to kill a couple of migrant children as a warning. Migrants should be intimidated so that they would leave the country. X had targeted migrants in general, not any specific ethnic or religious group. View more
Finland District Court of Oulu (Oulun käräjäoikeus / Uleåborg tingsrätt) - National court 2021 Finland / District Court of Oulu Migrant status refugees & asylum seekers A group of asylum seekers protested against negative asylum decisions in the market square in the city of Oulu. In the early hours of the morning, X threw three petrol-bombs at a tent in the asylum seekers protest camp. At the time, two Iraqi asylum seekers and one local volunteer were outside the tent. There was a charcoal grill in front of the tent. X had not lit the fuse in the bottles, but when the bottles were thrown and shattered, petrol splashed over the tent and on the volunteer’s… View more
Finland District Court of Oulu (Oulun käräjäoikeus/Uleåborgs tingsrätt) 2020 Finland / District Court of Oulu / 20/104853, R19/1378
A copy of the decision can be requested from the registry of the District Court of Oulu.
Religion Muslims The defendant, Mr Lokka, had uploaded two videos to his YouTube channel. The speaker in both videos was allegedly a founding member of an anti-immigration party. He spoke in English, but Lokka had created subtitles in Finnish for both videos and had also translated one of the speeches into several different languages. The videos put together had had over 30,000 viewers. The speaker insulted migrants and Muslims by describing them as “brutal”, “arrogant”, “stupid”, “worthless” and “sick”. He… View more
Finland The District Court of Itä-Uusimaa (Itä-Uudemaan käräjäoikeus / Östra Nylands tingsrätt) 2019 Finland / District court of Itä-Uusimaa / 19/116648; R 18/1120/707 Religion, Race/Ethnicity Muslims The defendant (Mr Pietarinen) had published several Facebook posts between April 2016 and September 2017. In his posts, the defendant attacked Islam as a religion and Muslims as a group. For example, he described Islam as “cancer” and ”crime against humanity”. He claimed that Muslims were “criminals”, “rapists”, “murderers” and “terrorists” and called prophet Muhammad “a pervert and a pedophile”. The defendant held that he had the right to express his opinions, and in doing so, use also… View more
Finland District Court of Helsinki (Helsingin käräjäoikeus / Helsingfors tingsrätt) 2019 Finland / District Court of Helsinki / 19/140548, R18/710
A copy of the decision can be requested from the registry of the District Court of Helsinki
Religion Muslims The city housing production office had decided to employ A. According to the regulations of the housing production office, the CEO decides on hiring new employees. When A’s employment contract was to be signed, the CEO was on leave. She had authorised the project manager to sign the employment contract. A HR specialist was also present. A then told that he was a Muslim and would like to take an (unpaid) prayer break each day, one hour on Fridays and five minutes during other days. This had not… View more
Finland Rovaniemi Court of Appeal (Rovaniemen hovioikeus / Rovaniemi hovrätt) 2019 Finland / Rovaniemi Court of Appeal / 19/150674, R18/856
A copy of the decision can be requested from the registry of the Rovaniemi Court of Appeal
Religion Muslims The defendant was a Sunni Muslim from Iraq and had applied for asylum in Finland. He had uploaded on his open Facebook page 11 videos as well as pictures depicting violent acts or brutal violence allegedly committed by Shia Muslims against Sunni Muslims. He had also written on his Facebook wall, in Arabic, that Shia Muslims were murderers and Iran’s henchmen and should be cursed and removed from Iraq. The defendant claimed he had wanted to comment on the crimes against humanity committed in his… View more
Finland District Court of Oulu (Oulun käräjäoikeus/Uleåborgs tingsrätt) 2019 Finland / District Court of Oulu / 19/143966, R19/1104
A copy of the decision can be requested from the registry of the District Court of Oulu.
Race/Ethnicity, Religion Muslims The defendant, Mr Tynkkynen, was leader of the Finns Party Youth and member of the city council. He had posted on his Facebook page an article with the title “Terrorism does not know religion. Except for Islam”. Tynkkynen wrote, for example, that to say that there is no link between terrorism and Islam is just an “empty claim”, and that Islam was “responsible for continuous killings around the world”. Attached to the text were photos of men, who were allegedly responsible for various terrorist… View more
Finland Helsinki Court of Appeal (Helsingin hovioikeus/Helsingfors hovrätt) 2019 Finland / Helsinki Court of Appeal / 19/141114, R18/2249
A copy of the decision can be requested from the registry of the Helsinki Court of Appeal.
Migrant status, Religion Muslims The defendant (A) had posted several comments in various anti-immigrant, open Facebook groups. He used pejorative language when referring to migrants, asylum seekers, refugees and Muslims and, for example, accused migrants of mass rape and assault. The defendant claimed he was politically active and had wanted to take part in public debate on migration. The court found that the comments were threatening, defaming and insulting and constituted incitement to hatred. View more
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