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Former chair of Finns Party youth league sentenced for online hate speech

Xinhua, January 17, 2017 Adjust font size:

Sebastian Tynkkynen, former chair of the Finns Party youth league, was found guilty by a court of ethnic agitation and breaching religious peace.

The Oulu District Court ordered 27-year-old Tynkkynen to delete the messages that could incite hatred and pay a 50-day fine, which amounts 300 euros based on his income, said Finnish news agency STT.

The far-right politician earlier posted anti-Islam and anti-Muslims messages in his Facebook profile, among others.

The court considered his racism messages defamatory, abusive and threatening, and therefore found him guilty of agitation against an ethnic group and breaching religious peace.

Sebastian Tynkkynen served as a deputy councilor of the Oulu City Council from 2012 to 2015, and the chair of the populist Finns Party youth wing from November 2014 to July 2016.

He was expelled by the Finns Party in October 2015 after launching a rebellion against the party leadership, but regained membership of the party in January 2016.

According to STT, Tynkkynen said the judgment would not affect his nomination in the municipal election, which will be held in April this year. It remained uncertain whether he will appeal the verdict or not.

Several similar court decisions have been made recently involving members of the nationalist Finns Party. Enditem