Kai Mykkänen (NCP), the Minister of the Interior, believes stripping people convicted of aggravated sex crimes of Finnish citizenship would not go against the public sense of justice. (Credit: Vesa Moilanen – Lehtikuva)
Kai Mykkänen (NCP), the Minister of the Interior, has revealed that he is in theory willing to consider expanding the scope of a legislative proposal that would enable authorities to strip dual citizens convicted of terrorist and treasonable offences of Finnish citizenship.
“It wouldn’t go against my own sense of justice if it was possible to strip citizenship from people [convicted of aggravated sex crimes],” he told Uusi Suomi on Thursday.
“The events that have taken place over the past couple of weeks have made me think more about why shouldn’t we send a signal that an attack against the fundamental values of Finns leads to the same consequences,” he added.
Mykkänen admitted, however, that the government does not have the necessary time to supplement the proposal prior to the upcoming parliamentary elections, particularly as the original proposal has already been submitted to the Parliament.
“We won’t have the time to draft the supplementary proposal before the end of this electoral term. It has to be drafted carefully,” he stressed.
The Parliament’s Administration Committee and Constitutional Law Committee have both been asked to explore the possibility of interpreting international treaties in a way that aggravated sex crimes would constitute an attack against the fundamental values of Finland, according to Mykkänen.
“That’s when it’d become crucial for national interests to strip someone of their citizenship in such circumstances,” he explained.
He added that the government would be satisfied if the constitutional grounds for stripping dual citizens convicted of terrorist offences of their citizenship can be established.
“It’d be even better if it was simultaneously possible to establish some kind of an interpretation of whether it could be possible to decree that aggravated sex crimes are grounds for losing citizenship,” phrased Mykkänen.
As Finland has committed to eradicating statelessness, the proposal would only enable authorities to strip citizenship of convicted criminals who hold another citizenship along with Finnish citizenship.
