Western Uusimaa District Court has handed down a 30-day suspended sentence to an Espoo man for inciting ethnic hatred on social media. His posts threatened the lives of certain ethnic groups.
The court's ruling in the case was exceptional, as it handed down a suspended prison sentence—a harsher punishment than the fines sought by the prosecution.
The case hinged on the defendant's social media posts dating back to 2019, when he discussed killing immigrants in comments on a friend's public Facebook page. The man said he hoped violence would drive migrants out of Finland.
In addition to threats, the man made derogatory comments about foreigners.
Criminal law expert: "Ruling was well-founded"
Criminal law professor Kimmo Nuotio said European legal practices differentiate hate speech that threatens violence from that which is insulting and derogatory in nature.
Nuotio noted that the Western Uusimaa court acted in accordance with this custom.
"The district court's ruling was merited and well-founded," he explained.
The defendant still has the ability to appeal the court's decision. During the trial he denied committing any crime, claiming his posts fell under the right of freedom of speech.
The court, however, found that the man could not claim freedom of speech for comments that were not not only violent hate speech but also reinforced negative stereotypes.
Ninety-three percent of the time, courts in Finland hand out fines (ranging from 30-50 days) in cases involving the incitement of ethnic hatred, according to data compiled by Statistics Finland.
In this case, the prosecution sought a punishment amounting to 50 day fines. But Western Uusimaa District Court found fines to be insufficient in light of the crime.
"In this case, the incitement crime was more serious as the posts threatened the lives of people of certain ethnicity," explained Western Uusimaa District Court judge Teemu Vanhanen.
