Finnish Court Finds "Flamer" Guilty of Disturbing The Practice of Religion

In Finland, a court has found a man guilty of disturbing the practice of religion after he repeatedly "flamed" participants in an Internet chat room devoted to religious topics. For over six months he sent messages to Suomi24.fi-- some meaningless strings of characters and others associating religious topics in a perjorative fashion with sexual acts and terms. Finnish law prohibits public blasphemy and publicly mocking or demeaning matters or institutions held sacred by churches or religious denominations. (Background.) The court imposed 50 income-linked day-fines, required him to pay compensation to the chat room site owners, and forfeited his computer to the state. Helsingin Sanomat reported on Nov. 10 on the case. The court rejected defendant's claim that, in sending the messages, he had had no intent to offend. It held that his behavior went beyond an acceptable exercise of freedom of speech. [Thanks to Denis N. Magnusson via Cyberprof listserv for the information.]