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Finnish MP wins on all charges in major free speech trial

Päivi Räsänen, Finland’s interior minister from 2011 to 2015. | Courtesy of ADF International.

 

All charges against Finnish Parliamentarian Päivi Räsänen and Bishop Pohjola are unanimously dismissed following high-profile free speech trial

A court in Helsinki dismissed all charges against Päivi Räsänen, a physician and mother of five, and Juhana Pohjola, a bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland, after a free speech trial that drew international attention.

The court said in a unanimous 28-page ruling on March 30 that “it is not for the district court to interpret biblical concepts.”

The former Finnish Minister of the Interior, faced three criminal charges for sharing her faith-based beliefs, including on Twitter

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By 2018, official Chinese government statistics said there were 39 million Protestants in China. Scholars estimate that including house church worshipers pushes the real number to at least 80 million — almost 6% of China’s population, on par with Communist Party membership.