Teuvo Hakkarainen (PS) was photographed leaving a meeting of the Finns Party Parliamentary Group on 19 December, 2017. The parliamentary group decided to issue him a serious warning for grabbing his female colleague in the canteen of the Finnish Parliament on 14 December, 2017.
Teuvo Hakkarainen (PS) is unlikely to face further punitive action despite the emergence of reports of a violent incident between him and Päivi Räsänen (Christian Democrats) outside the Finnish Parliament in 2016.
The case is closed for the time being, Leena Meri, the chairperson of the Finns Party Parliamentary Group, told YLE on Wednesday.
Hakkarainen was issued a serious warning by the parliamentary group earlier this week after it emerged that he, while intoxicated, had harassed Veera Ruoho (NCP) in the canteen of the Finnish Parliament on 14 December, 2017. He also relinquished his position as the second deputy chairperson of the Finns Party and was reprimanded publicly by Speaker of the Parliament Maria Lohela (BR).
The Finns Party Parliamentary Group, however, did not take further action after it was revealed that one year earlier he, again while intoxicated, had physically abused Räsänen outside the Parliament Annex.
Meri argued to Helsingin Sanomat that any punishment for the earlier incident should have been delivered by the previous leadership of the Finns Party. The Finns Party Parliamentary Group was at the time headed by Sampo Terho, who later became the chairperson of the Blue Reform.
“This discussion naturally should’ve been had one year ago instead of now,” Jussi Halla-aho, the chairperson of the Finns Party, similarly said to Helsingin Sanomat.
Both Meri and Halla-aho also expressed their bemusement at the decision not to inform the parliamentary group of the incident between Hakkarainen and Räsänen. Some, meanwhile, have questioned the decision of Speaker of the Parliament Lohela – also formerly of the Finns Party – not to publicly intervene in the actions of Hakkarainen.
Lohela and Terho, in turn, have pointed out that Räsänen had neither asked that the issue be made public nor made it public herself.
“Räsänen wasn’t demanding that the issue be made public or that a punishment be delivered, but hoped that Hakkarainen gets support and treatment,” Terho explained in an interview with Ilta-Sanomat on Wednesday.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT Photo: Jussi Nukari – Lehtikuva Source: Uusi Suomi
