Member of Finnish Parliament in freedom of religious expression court case

Motion Text

That this House notes that a Member of the Finnish Parliament, Paivi Rasanen, has been the subject of a two-year pre-trial investigation in response to charges brought by the Prosecutor General of Finland relating to her publicly expressed views on traditional marriage resulting in a court case due to commence on 24 January 2022; is concerned at the potential implications of that case for other countries; further notes the range of non-Christian groups and individuals who have criticised the decision to prosecute; and acknowledges Ms Rasanen's quoted and reported comments before the court case that she will not back down from her views and will not be intimidated into hiding her faith, and the more Christians keep silent on controversial themes, the narrower the space for freedom of speech gets.