HS Turku | “Based on the news, the image remained that it was sexual harassment” – This is how Syksy Räsänen explains why she spread harassment accusations about her colleague

A cosmologist Autumn Räsänen and this research colleague Till Sawalan the proceedings of the charges are currently continuing in the district court of Varsinais-Suomen.

The trial is related to a case in which an astrophysicist Christian Ott was hired at the University of Turku in the beginning of 2018. However, the university reversed Ott’s hiring decision after 19 astronomers and astrophysicists, including Räsänen and Sawala, had sent a letter to the university management about the matter. In a letter written on the initiative of Räsänen and Sawala, the researchers expressed their concerns about hiring Otti.

On Wednesday, Ott told the court that Sawala and Räsänen made false statements about him and started a campaign against him on the internet.

“Their actions practically ended my career as a researcher and scientist,” Ott said.

Ott was resigned from the California Institute of Technology, Caltech, in 2016 after he was accused of sexually harassing two female students.

Räsä and Sawala are accused of gross defamation and gross dissemination of information that violates private life. In addition, Ott demands 50,000 euros in damages from the defendants for financial damage. Both deny having committed the crime.

The prosecutor demands fines or suspended prison terms for both.

HS exceptionally publishes Sawala’s name during the prosecution phase, because he himself wants to appear publicly under his own name. Räsänen has also told about his status as an accused himself publicly.

On Wednesday, the court discussed, among other things, why Räsänen has told that Otti was guilty of sexual harassment and not gender-based harassment.

Räsänen told the court that he became familiar with Otti’s harassment case through newspaper articles, for example Buzzfeed,through.

“Otti’s activities at Caltech were widely written about as sexual harassment, and based on these news and reports, the impression remained that it was sexual harassment,” Räsänen reasoned.

She says she used the term after reading a statement from Caltech that talked about gender-based harassment.

Räsänen was asked why he saw it as so important to prevent Otti from being hired at the University of Turku.

“The fact that persons guilty of harassment may just change institutions sends a very bad message, in my opinion, especially to younger researchers and especially to female researchers,” Räsänen answered.

According to Räsänen, Otti’s actions were serious professional misconduct.

In the indictment, the #MeToo subject tag used in the writings of Räsänen and Sawala was brought up, which would indicate that Ott was guilty of sexual harassment. Räsänen was asked on Wednesday what he thinks the term means.

“The #MeToo hashtag is used both in the academic world and elsewhere to refer to both sexual harassment and gender-based harassment,” Räsänen stated.

Ott admitted to making several mistakes in supervising students at Caltech between 2012 and 2015. Ott says that he told the student about his personal feelings. According to Otti, the student also wanted to talk to him about sex, but he refused. I took it that there was nothing sexual about the relationship.

In 2015, according to Otti, the student changed his mind about their friendship and switched to another professor. At the same time, according to Otti, an activist came along and encouraged the student to file a complaint against him. According to Otti, the activist also contacted another student, who filed a complaint against him. Ott says that he apologized to the students privately.

Ott says he voluntarily left Caltech at the end of 2017 so he could get a fresh start.

to the University of Turku Ott was hired at the beginning of 2018. According to Ott, Räsänen and Sawala deliberately started campaigning with the aim of preventing him from being hired in Turku. According to Otti, Räsänen and Sawala claimed that he was guilty of sexual harassment with several students.

According to Otti, the “actions and lies” of Räsänen and Sawala have destroyed his chances of returning to the academic world.

According to the regional prosecutor, Räsänen and Sawala, among other things, spread information on social media and in a press release, according to which Ott was guilty of sexual harassment or sexual harassment, even though Caltech’s report did not mention such activity, and Ott has never been accused or convicted of a crime.

According to the prosecutor, Räsänen and Sawala’s “spreading of false information and hints” caused the University of Turku to terminate Otti’s employment.

Completed: Syksy Räsänen’s consultation 24.8. at 4:42 p.m

The story is updated…

Do you want more reading from the Turku region? Subscribe to the HS Turku newsletter from here.