By Enrique Tessieri
Perussuomaliset (PS) MP James Hirvisaari was convicted Monday by a Kouvola court for incitement against an ethnic group, according to Helsingin Sanomat in English. He got off the hook last year in November when a court in Päijät-Häme acquitted him of the same crime. Hirvisaari says that he will appeal the latest decision in a higher court.
It’s nothing surprising that Hirvisaari, who is ideologically in the far right and who blamed Anders Breivik’s mass killings in July in Norway on poor immigration policy, is one of Finland’s best-known Islamophobes.
Hirvisaari writes the following on Uusi Suomi blog shortly after the mass killings in Norway took place: “I really am not surprised that something like this could happen in Norway. In the last years at least ALL [sic!] of [the] tens of [people] accused of violent rapes have been done by immigrants/foreigners that have come from outside Europe.”
It shouldn’t come to any surprise that Hirvisaari is now trying to portray himself as a martyr of free speech, according to his latest Uusi Suomi blog entry.
All eyes are now on PS chairman Timo Soini has said publicly that any party member that got “convicted for racism” would be kicked out of the party.