An appeals court has upheld a Ylivieska-Raahe court ethnic agitation ruling Friday against Juha Kärkkäinen for publishing anti-Semitic opinion pieces on Magneettimedia, reports YLE. Kärkkäinen was fined last fall 45,000 euros for publishing anti-Semitic writings of Adrian Salbuch, Ted Pike, David Duke and others as well as cartoons that bear a striking resemblance to the former Nazi tabloid, Der Strümer (1923-45).
Apart from the anti-Semitic, pro-Nazi and xenophobic opinion pieces and articles published by Magneettimedia, one of the witnesses that Kärkkäinen brought to court to speak in his defense is the leader and website editor of the the neo-Nazi association, Suomen Kansallinen Vastarinta, according to Oulu-based Kaleva.
Kärkkäinen is owner of a company that bares his name and which is based in Ylivieska. He owns shopping center in the cities of Lahti and Oulu.
Magneettimedia is rife with anti-Semitism, xenophobia and Nazi glorification.
The Kärkkäinen case raises a lot of disturbing questions about anti-Semitism in Finland. For one, it casts a strange light on Islamophobic parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* and Muutos 2011, which claim to be on Israel’s side but have not raised a whisper about Kärkkäinen and Magneettimedia’s anti-Semitic writings.
Muutos 2011 MP James Hirvisaari, who was sentenced for ethnic agitation and sacked from the PS after he posted on social media a picture he took a friend making a Nazi salute in parliament, commonly speaks out against halal meat used by Muslims but never speaks of banning kosher meat used by Jews.
The appeals court ruling requires Magneettimedia to take down its anti-Semitic writings but the publication is defiant, pledging to continue the same editorial line without specifying what this means.
In September, the city of Ylivieska awarded Kärkkäinen the Pro Ylivieska distinction, which is given to a person or association that has distinguished himself or herself in the community and nationally.
In September an Ylivieska official who spoke to Migrant Tales said that the award had nothing to do with his opinions. “What he thinks [about Jews] is his personal opinion and we have nothing to do with that,” the official said.
A news story by the Finnish News Agency (STT) that appeared in Mikkeli-based daily Länsi-Savo Saturday interviewed the chairman of the Ylivieska city council, Juha Pylväs, who didn’t see any problems with awarding Kärkkäinen the Pro Ylivieksa distinction.
When asked if the city has got feedback as a result of the award given to Kärkkäinen, Pylväs said that they had got a lot of positive feedback since it was given to a person who had helped develop the city.
Pylväs admits that there was “some criticism” but feedback has been mostly positive.
See also:
- Take two of Magneettimedia’s anti-Semitic campaign in Finland
- Magneettimedia editor and owner fined 45,000 euros by court for anti-Semitic writings
- Magneettimedia of Finland will no longer publish anti-Semitic writings of David Duke, Ted Pike and others
- Magneettimedia spreads anti-Semitism in Finland
* The Finnish name for the Finns Party is the Perussuomalaiset (PS). The English names of the party adopted by the PS, like True Finns or Finns Party, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and xenophobia. We therefore prefer to use the Finnish name of the party on our postings.
That was fastest Supreme court case ever if it really came just few days after Courts of appeal decision….
Know your courts. “The district courts deal with criminal and civil cases. The decision of a district court can normally be appealed in a court of appeal. The decisions of the courts of appeal, then, can be appealed in the
Supreme Court, provided that the Supreme Court grants leave to appeal.”
When you plan to change your misinformed title and story? I see that you added some after my comment so you know now that there is no supreme court decision.
When you plan to fix this? Hovioikeus, what gave decision, is court of appeals and korkein oikeus, what is supreme court, havent touched this case.