Finnish blogger fined for online comments
We’ve been following the court case of Finnish blogger, Jani Uusitalo. Today he went to court and received a fine for comments he made online about a school principal and the fundamentalist religious schooling Finnish children were receiving. He’ll have another trial in two weeks where he could receive more sentencing meeting with the courts in two weeks where he’ll receive more details about his sentencing…
Today, in court, my criticism was considered to have “clearly gone beyond what can be considered reasonable†(my non-professional, and probably inaccurate translation of the part of 9 §, which this sentencing is based on). I was sentenced to a small fine (due to my small incomes), to pay the plaintiff’s related expences (also reasonably small), to pay a moderate, with respect to what was demanded, compensation for “mental anguish†(not sure about the right translation there, either, sorry!), and to pay the plaintiff’s legal expences, which in themselves go far beyond what little funds I currently have.
I shall not comment on this matter further until the full sentencing with all the details has been given, which is two weeks from now.
A sad day for freedom of speech in Finland.
Just to correct something: there won’t be another trial in two weeks, it’s just the sentence given to me today that’ll be given in writing with all the details of why I’m being punished.
Comment by Jani — Tue, Dec 20th, 2005 @ 10:48 pm
I heard that if you complain about the swedish minority controling the majority in finland, you can get fired from your job. Is that true?
Comment by lebite — Tue, Dec 20th, 2005 @ 11:10 pm
I heard that if you complain about the swedish minority controling the majority in finland, you can get fired from your job. Is that true?
Not only is it true, but the fact is you’ll be thrown to the ice bears that roam the streets of Helsinki during the night time. All those cadavers…
Comment by pni — Tue, Dec 20th, 2005 @ 11:28 pm
Just to correct something: there won’t be another trial in two weeks, it’s just the sentence given to me today that’ll be given in writing with all the details of why I’m being punished.
Sorry for the confusing, thanks for that info, I’ve changed the original post.
Comment by Phil — Tue, Dec 20th, 2005 @ 11:41 pm
WTF. So it’s illegal to criticize now?? cough* cough* fascists cough* cough*
Comment by Nokia Guy — Wed, Dec 21st, 2005 @ 12:47 am
I am not happy with the direction this country seems to be heading with regard to privacy and basic human rights. Granted, this is a global trend, but somehow I naively thought that Finland would not be so affected.
It was just on the news that they are starting to combat child porn with operator-installed filters. First of all, I wonder what the technology is, i.e. is it just some stupid firewall operating with lists made by people who visit porn sites for a living (how’s that for a job?) that you can circumvent by using a proxy in another country. Second, as usual with these kinds of things, the issue of demand for child porn is not addressed at all. Do they expect the sickos who surf kiddie porn sites to suddenly have a change of heart and renounce their evil ways because of this law?
Comment by Freeridin' Franklin — Wed, Dec 21st, 2005 @ 1:16 am
Are there any english (my Finnish is rudimentary) translations of what Jani originally posted about the headmaster? I did read the article titled “Targeted Finnish blogger speaks out…in English!!”. I’m curious because i want to know exactly what “harsh” language he used.
Comment by gopha — Wed, Dec 21st, 2005 @ 2:15 am
I heard that if you complain about the swedish minority controling the majority in finland, you can get fired from your job. Is that true?
You’re fired!
PS. How do you guys change text to italic?
Comment by Anton — Wed, Dec 21st, 2005 @ 11:40 am
PS. How do you guys change text to italic?
Put this around the text you want italicized: <_i_> then end it off with <_ /_i_> ….but remove the _ thingy inbetween.
Comment by Phil — Wed, Dec 21st, 2005 @ 12:47 pm
So a blogger is not above the law… Cry me a river.
Comment by get a grip — Wed, Dec 21st, 2005 @ 1:09 pm
“fundamentalist religious schooling Finnish children were receiving.”
???
Comment by Timppa — Wed, Dec 21st, 2005 @ 6:06 pm
Timppa, apparently a school principal someplace up north is a raving, ranting Jesus freak and scares the hell out of the kids he’s supposed to be educating.
Comment by prince of dorkness — Thu, Dec 22nd, 2005 @ 11:31 am
So a blogger is not above the law… Cry me a river.
They don’t call them personal diaries for nothing. Imagine if Tarja Halonen one day decides to call the cops cause I’m trashing her every other day. I’d be in big trouble.
Comment by Phil — Thu, Dec 22nd, 2005 @ 9:21 pm
There’s a difference: Tarja Halonen is a public figure, so she can be badmouthed in public much more than a private person like this principal guy. Having seen what the blogger wrote about the guy, I think the principal had every right to sue and won rightfully.
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