Finish police announced on Tuesday that they did not feel that comments on immigration policy made by True Finns MP Teuvo Hakkarainen in a video interview shown on the Helsingin Sanomat website give cause for a criminal investigation.
Ombudsman for Minorities Eva Biaudet felt that Hakkarainen’s comments were racist and exceeded the bounds of free speech, and asked police to evaluate whether or not a crime may have taken place.
The police have now proposed to the Office of the Prosecutor General that no criminal investigation should be launched, saying that Hakkarainen’s comments were an exercise of free speech, and not hate speech.
Hakkarainen himself said that he was relieved, but added that he would not have minded going to court in the matter.
He admitted to a poor choice of words, but felt that the idea of criminal charges was “ridiculous”.
In the video interview taken on Hakkarainen’s first day in Parliament, Hakkarainen spoke in a disparaging fashion about “black men” arriving at Finland’s borders, and made a mocking imitation of a Muslim call to prayer from a minaret.
Hakkarainen has since received a number of threats, one of which is currently under investigation by the authorities.
