THE SUPREME COURT of Finland (KKO) on Tuesday issued a cease-and-desist order to the Nordic Resistance Movement, a neo-Nazi organisation with members in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.
The ruling is historic, according to Helsingin Sanomat: not a single organisation has been ordered to cease and desist in Finland since the 1970s.
KKO on Tuesday determined that the objectives of the far-right organisation were in violation of the foundations of a democratic society, as well as the values underlying them, as defined in the constitution and criminal code.
|
Read more: |
“Writings published on the organisation’s webpage have targeted various population groups in a way that has to be considered ethnic agitation and therefore criminal. In addition, the use of violence linked to the organisation’s activities has to be considered a part of the organisation’s operations,” it justified.
The Nordic Resistance Movement, it added, also violated or sought to violate the basic and human rights laid down in the constitution and international treaties.
“Some of the activities were directly in violation of the criminal code. The operating methods that were considered unlawful represented a substantial part of the organisation’s operations, and [the organisation] only engaged in a limited amount of other types of activities,” said KKO.
The Nordic Resistance Movement had been ordered to suspend its operations temporarily in March 2019 by KKO.
Members of its board of directors cited freedom of assembly and freedom of speech in pleading their case to KKO. Their operations, however, were ruled to have constituted abuse of those freedoms on grounds that the organisation’s objective was to overturn democratic structures and significantly limit other basic and human rights.
“The organisation’s objectives and operations are not afforded protection under freedom of assembly or freedom of speech,” the court stated.
The legal action to dissolve the organisation was filed in 2017 by the National Police Board. Both the District Court of Pirkanmaa and Turku Court of Appeal have since banned the organisation.
The National Bureau of Investigation (KRP) in November 2019 revealed it suspects that the organisation has continued to operate under a different name, Kohti vapautta!. The pre-trial investigation has been completed and the findings submitted to a prosecutor for consideration of charges, according to Helsingin Sanomat.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
Source: Uusi Suomi
