Court: sex business on the street illegal only if it causes disturbance

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The Helsinki District Court has ruled that the sale and purchase of sex services in public places is illegal only if it causes a disturbance.
      The decision is seen as an important precedent, forming a guideline on how much evidence police need to act against street prostitution under the new law on public order.
      At least some Members of Parliament and police officers have interpreted the law as making all sex trade illegal on the street.
      The court’s opinion did not affect the actual decision in the case before it; the charges were rejected because the court found that the case of the prosecution was based exclusively on an assumption by the police that the defendant, a Helsinki woman, was selling sex services.
     
The law that came into effect in October 2003 bans the sale and purchase of sex in public places.
      Since then, police have handed out fines to nine women for the sale of sex services, and to three men for buying sex this year.
     
The first case which actually came to trial originated on January 22 with a police raid in the Kallio region.
      According to the prosecution, the woman was stopping cars on the street. She was also seen getting a ride in a car at least twice, and returning soon after that to look for new customers.
      The arrest occurred when she tried to proposition a police officer in civilian clothes.
      The woman denied selling sex services, saying that she was just meeting friends.
     
The court found that the prosecution case was based exclusively on assumptions, and that a guilty verdict would have required full evidence of the alleged events.
      The court noted that the police did not make any observations of what was happening inside the cars, and what the conversation consisted of.
      No witnesses saw money changing hands.
     
Somewhat unexpectedly, the court also found that a conviction for selling sex services in a public place would require evidence that a disturbance was caused. However, the court did not evaluate the extent to which the defendant may or may not have been causing a disturbance, because it did not find sufficient evidence that any buying or selling had taken place.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Sex buyers fined in Helsinki - police want prostitution off streets (13.2.2004)

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