Since 2019, Päivi Räsänen has faced interrogation, persecution and trial which could reach the highest court in Europe. All for sharing her Christian beliefs.
And now she's been told she isn't welcome in the United Kingdom.
This month, Päivi's Electronic Travel Authorisation to enter the UK was cancelled, even though it had already been approved weeks earlier. Bishop Juhana Pohjola, who was convicted alongside Päivi, has also been refused an ETA.
Authorities said her application suggested she was "not eligible."
Päivi, who has been convicted of “insulting” a group for simply sharing her Christian beliefs, is now worried she won't be allowed into the country at all.
If so, this would prevent Päivi from delivering the keynote address at a religious freedom conference in Belfast this August. A conference about the very freedoms she's being denied.
Päivi said:
“I have been invited to give the keynote speech at a religious freedom conference in Belfast in August, where I intended to discuss the importance of free speech.
I find it shocking and deeply ironic that in a democratic country like the UK, I am being prevented from speaking at a conference about fundamental freedoms due to my conviction for ‘hate speech’.”
A key milestone for freedom of speech
The refusal to enter the UK has come as another stumbling block as Päivi files an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.
This will be the final opportunity to overturn her conviction and a chance for Europe's highest court to decide whether freedom of religion and expression are accepted in the public space.
Lorcán Price, the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International barrister representing Päivi before the Court, said:
“Europe’s highest court must now decide whether European law will continue to protect the freedom to peacefully express one’s beliefs in the public square; because if peaceful expression like a decades-old church booklet can be criminalised and retroactively censored, free and open debate in Europe is no more.
We urge the Court to admit this case, which presents a critical opportunity to reaffirm these basic freedoms and ensure that citizens are not prosecuted for peacefully expressing their beliefs.”
Päivi's case will help decide whether silencing of speech deepens or whether Europe's highest court draws a line under it.
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