The Nurmes District Court ordered a 15-year-old schoolboy to pay a fine of EUR 90 for defamation in a case involving a video of a teacher that was uploaded to YouTube.
The sentence comprised 15 day-fines of EUR 6 apiece. In addition, he was ordered to pay the teacher damages of EUR 800 for psychological pain and suffering, and the court costs of more than EUR 2,000.
Last spring the boy uploaded a video clip from his school's First of May party in which the teacher was seen singing.
The video and its accompanying text had been placed on the Internet without the teacher's permission. The teacher only heard about the existence of the video a few days later.
The boy had added a text to the video suggesting, in English, that the film had been shot in a mental hospital, and that the performer was mentally ill.
According to the court, the action fit the definition of slanderous defamation.
The court found that the defendant had deliberately defamed the teacher with the text on the video, and that his act should not be considered insignificant. The boy denied that his purpose had been to insult the teacher.
