The acquittal applies to reporting the person's criminal background in the news.
| Updated
Helsinki The district court released the editor of Seiska newspaper on Friday Panu Hörkön of the charge. The journalist, known for his revealing stories, was accused of disseminating information that violates private life.
The acquittal relates to telling the criminal background of the man mentioned by name in Seiska's news a few years ago. According to the district court, the right to prosecute had expired.
The district court also stated in the judgment that the cases were not against the law.
“A good day for freedom of the press”, Panu Hörkkö commented on the acquittal.
Hörkkö says that he trusted all along that the court would dismiss the charge. He characterizes the acquittal as a double victory, because the court considered not only that the right to prosecute had expired, but also that the cases were lawful.
I'll stop the subject of the news coverage was a Finnish man who, according to Seiska's story, had worked in the media industry outside Finland's borders. It is not about a person generally known in Finland.
The man was said to be dating an actress in the stories. Photos of them were also published in Seiska's stories.
Seiska said that the man has been convicted of several dozen crimes, such as assaults and thefts. The man's punishments have ranged from fines to short, unconditional prison sentences.
According to the police's preliminary investigation, the information published by Seiska about the man's criminal background is correct.
District court took a position in the judgment on how the time of the suspect's crimes is defined with regard to articles published on the Internet. The case is important in terms of the statute of limitations.
According to the prosecutor, the crime continued for years because the writings were still readable online. Therefore, in the prosecutor's opinion, the statute of limitations for the prosecution had not started to run at any point.
Hörkö's defense, on the other hand, considered that the statute of limitations began to run from the moment the story was published. The right to prosecute for spreading information that violates private life expires in two years.
In its consideration, the District Court came to the defense's position and therefore rejected the charge. The charge was brought more than two years after the writings were published.
The district court referred to last week's decision of the Supreme Court (KKO) regarding the statute of limitations to advance decision on the statute of limitations.
KKO was rejected by the citizen activist Anter Yaşan as the defamation charge has expired with respect to the Facebook posts. According to the preliminary ruling, the limitation period for the right to prosecute began to run immediately from the moment of publication.
Prosecutor also demanded in the trial that news about the man's criminal background be removed from Seiska's website. The district court rejected this claim as well and stated that the cases were not illegal.
In its decision, the court weighed privacy protection and the press's right to freedom of speech in this respect.
“In this case, what speaks for freedom of speech and the public's right to information is that [mies] has been convicted of several crimes, which also include violence against women and intimate partner violence,” the court stated.
According to the court, the publication of the article also sparked a public debate about the length of the sentence given for the crime of intimate partner violence. According to the law, it can be considered a socially significant topic of discussion on a general level.
Seiska's reporter Panu Hörkkö (left) and his lawyer Jussi Haara participated in the trial at the Helsinki District Court on December 13.
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Read more: A well-known Seiska paparazzi charged with reporting on a person's criminal background – Prosecutor: The information is true, but it belongs to private life
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Correction 19.1. at 9:18 p.m.: Corrected one erroneous mention of the Supreme Court as District Court.
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