Publisher and ex-girlfriend acquitted in privacy case - Vanhanen to appeal decision

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Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen (Centre) says that he will appeal yesterday's decision by Helsinki District Court, acquitting Vanhanen's former girlfriend Susan Ruusunen and publisher Kari Ojala on charges of violating Vanhanen's privacy in the book Pääministerin morsian ("The Prime Minister's Bride") detailing Ruusunen's relationship with the Prime Minister.
      Vanhanen noted in his statement to reporters that the court's decision was arrived at by vote. The four members of the court were split evenly 2-2, and under Finnish law, the view most advantageous to the defendant wins in such cases.
      Two lay members of the court voted for acquittal, while one lay member and judge Merja Lahti were in favour of convicting and fining Ruusunen and Ojala.
     
Vanhanen noted that the view that prevailed in the court was that Ruusunen had the right to write about her own life in her book. He pointed out that according to the dissenting opinion of the judge, "not much would be left of the protection of privacy", if this were the basis of giving out information about another person.
      "On the basis of this decision it would appear that everything in a prime minister's life that someone finds out about is public information. The way that I see it is that even in this job there needs to be a right for at least a few hours in a day to be genuinely the person's own time, with privacy. That people should not peek through windows, and if some people find out something about my private life, it should not be sold in supermarkets."
     
Vanhanen was unperturbed by the prospect that appealing the decision would be likely to keep the matter in the public eye for a long time. In his view, the principle is more important here: the question of whether or not there is a right to privacy.
      The Prime Minister also said that he does not believe that the case, or the prospect that it will be drawn out, will have any effect on his own career or political credibility.
     
Political colleagues reacting to the court's decision in the hallways of Parliament agreed with Vanhanen's view that the case would not affect his status as a politician.
      "I would imagine that the impact - to the extent that there has been any - would have come with this process", said Speaker of Parliament Sauli Niinistö (Nat. Coalition Party). "The harm to his image that has come, has already happened", said MP Timo Soini (True Finns).
      Timo Kalli, chairman of the Centre Party's Parliamentary group, was on similar lines. "The case has been in public for such a long time that it will not affect Vanhanen's position in any way."
     
"Here in Parliament people are largely agreed with the idea that the lines must be drawn somewhere", said MP Esko-Juhani Tennilä (Left Alliance).
      Toimi Kankaanniemi (Christ. Dem.) was the only MP that came by who suspects that Vanhanen's court defeat will have an impact. "It will certainly not strengthen Vanhanen's position."
      Mikaela Nylander (Swed. People's Party) openly disagreed with the decision of the court, saying that the book went too far into Vanhanen's private life.
      Jacob Söderman (SDP), a lawyer by profession, predicted that the Court of Appeals would agree with the stand of the judge, who was overruled.
      "In issues of freedom of expression, sometimes the lay members follow their own line in the lower court, and judges in the Court of Appeals fix the decision."

More on this subject:
 Legal and media experts weigh in on court verdict

Previously in HS International Edition:
  BREAKING NEWS: Susan Ruusunen and publisher acquitted in Vanhanen book case (5.3.2008)
  Author and publisher point fingers at each other at trial over violation of PM´s privacy (18.2.2008)
  Vanhanen-Kuronen court case begins (15.2.2008)
  Susan´s book sets off a media feeding-frenzy (7.2.2007)

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