United States | A Christian conservative organization classified as a hate organization is again collecting funds for Päivi Räsänen’s trial

International Alliance Defending Freedom International collects funds MP Päivi Räsänen (kd) for future litigation. At the end of August, the Court of Appeal of Helsinki will deal with the charges brought against Räsä for three counts of incitement against a national group. The Helsinki District Court dismissed the charges in March 2022.

According to the organization, the trial against Räsä shows how far prosecutors are willing to go to silence speech that does not conform to their worldview and to punish it.

“Päivi was unanimously acquitted of the charges, and yet the prosecutor continues to pursue hate speech charges against this Finnish grandmother and MP,” says the organization on their fundraising website.

The organization has kept Räsänen’s case prominently displayed on social media on their accounts. The case has also been raised on the front page of the organization’s website.

The Christian conservative organization says it has been coordinating Räsänen’s defense since 2019. The organization’s executive director Paul Coleman was present at the Helsinki district court in early 2022, when the case was discussed in court. By Saturday evening, the organization had collected 359 euros to support Räsänen.

Corporate has its roots in Arizona, USA, where it was founded in 1993 originally under the name The Alliance Defense Fund. Organization tells that it is a Christian legal aid organization that is committed to protecting, among other things, freedom of religion and speech, marriage and the sanctity of life.

In practice, it opposes, for example abortioneuthanasia, of the same sex marriages and the criminalization of hate speech. Its by hate speech laws are used against people who do not share the state’s views on certain political issues, such as abortion, immigration, and same-sex relationships.

It also train Christian law students and “inspires them to reimagine their careers as a way of serving God.”

Later, the organization expanded its activities to Europe under the name Alliance Defending Freedom International. Now it has five offices in Europe.

The US human rights organization Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is classified organization as a hate organization against sexual and gender minorities. According to the SPLC, the organization has supported the recriminalization of homosexuality in India and claimed that people belonging to sexual and gender minorities are more likely to commit pedophilia than others.

The ADF International organization has offered help to Finns before. The former chairman of the Fundamental Finns and ex-foreign minister Timo Soini tells on his blogthat the organization helped him in 2018. Soinin by the organization contacted him and offered legal assistance when complaints about Soin had been made to the Chancellor of Justice.

The complaints were about when Soini, while serving as foreign minister, participated in an anti-abortion candle protest during his official trip to Canada.

STT did not reach Räsä to comment on ADF International’s fundraising for his court trial. ADF International did not respond to questions sent by STT via e-mail.

No it is not everyday that a foreign organization collects money to support a Finnish trial, experts tell STT. They comment on the matter on a general level and do not take a position on Räsänen’s case.

The Executive Director of the Jurists Association Jore Tilander’s according to it is very rare that a foreign organization collects money for the trial of Finns.

“There may have been some pools (collections) where funds are collected for civil matters, but they have also been domestic, not international,” Tilander tells STT.

According to Tilander, the funds collected by a foreign organization can be used, for example, to cover the legal costs of the defendant, i.e. the accused, in criminal proceedings, such as defense lawyers and evidence.

“Although collecting funds abroad for a Finnish trial is special, I don’t see anything wrong with receiving the funds,” says Tilander.

Also tax expert of the Tax Administration No, Laine describes the situation as special. According to the law, gift taxation could come into question when receiving the funds collected for the trial. Gift tax must be paid if you receive a gift with a value of 5,000 euros or more.

“From a tax point of view, it doesn’t matter if the collected funds are received as money or as a service, i.e. as payment for legal fees, for example,” says Laine.

According to the law, in more special cases like this, the customer can be directed to apply for a preliminary ruling, which explains the related details and possible tax consequences.

According to the Lottery Administration of the Police Board, Finnish fund-raising legislation only applies to fund-raising carried out in Finland, i.e. the Fund-raising Act does not apply to fund-raising carried out abroad.

Religious ones funding of extremist and anti-gender movements in Europe has almost quadrupled between 2009 and 2018. It turns out from the report, which was made by the European Parliamentary Forum for Sexual and Reproductive Rights network formed by MEPs defending sexual and reproductive rights. The anti-gender movement opposes gender equality and the promotion of the rights of women and sexual and gender minorities.

According to the report, stores spent a total of more than 86 million euros in Europe in 2018. Between 2009 and 2018, ADF International, which supports Räsä, spent almost 21 million euros in Europe.

ADF International has supported lawsuits related to freedom of speech and religion and abortion and euthanasia in Europe, among other things in Germany, in Belgium and in France.

In the Government’s equality policy in the report warned in 2022 about the anti-gender movement and identified it as a significant threat to gender equality and the rights of sexual and gender minorities.

Also the archbishop Tapio Luoma has expressed his concern that Finland has become the target of extreme conservative lobbying with a religious background. According to Luoma, extreme conservative organizations have a clear goal to influence European legislation and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

New Finland in the interview Luoma said that anti-gender activity is very suspicious.

“When you try to prevent the progress of equality and non-discrimination through it, then it is wrong. It’s worth being alert to such flows coming to us from elsewhere,” he said.

Räsänen is questioned To the new Finland, the existence of the anti-gender movement by saying that he, if anyone, would have come across it, if there was one. She is said having verified from the leader of ADF that the claims made about the organization, for example supporting the criminalization of homosexuality, are not true.

Räsänen also said that he was helped in the lawsuit by ADF’s European lawyers, who made memos for his lawyer about European freedom of speech and freedom of religion legislation. He said that ADF also searched for him the best representative from Finnish law firms. According to what he said, he had not received direct financial support.

For Räsänen fined in the district court for three counts of incitement against a people’s group for his anti-gay writings. The prosecutor considered Räsänen’s statements, among other things, insulting gays as a group. The public prosecutor decided to bring charges Raija Toiviainen.

The Helsinki District Court dismissed all charges in March 2022. The prosecutor appealed against Räsänen’s acquittal. With the appeal, the proceedings proceeded to the Court of Appeal. The hearing of the case at the Helsinki Court of Appeal will begin on August 22.

The organization ADF International and its fundraising for Räsänen’s trial has also been reported extensively in the past. Kanava magazine mixed Helsingin sanomat newspaper.