Ombudsman for Minorities denounces MP’s comments as racist
Finland’s Ombudsman for Minorities Eva Biaudet is asking for an investigation into comments by True Finns MP Teuvo Hakkarainen, which she considers racist and demeaning. Biaudet was referring to a video clip on the Helsingin Sanomat website, where Hakkarainen called for a need for faster expulsion of rejected refugees, used an expression that is generally considered to be an offensive racial slur, and made a mocking imitation of a Muslim call to prayer.
Hakkarainen later said that because of his rural background, he was unaware that his language might be considered offensive.
Biaudet is asking the Prosecutor General to invesetigate whether or not the comments qualify as illegal hate speech and incitement against a population group.
“Hakkarainen’s statements on immigrants, asylum seekers, dark-skinned people, and Muslims are both inflammatory and slanderous They can give the mistaken impression that people of a certain national group are criminal and of less value”, Biaudet notes in her statement.
Meanwhile, Centre Party MP Timo Laaninen lashed out at Hakkarainen for excusing his remarks by referring to his rural background.
“It would be hard to imagine a worse insult to country people and those born in the countryside.”
Speaking at a Centre Party May Day celebration in Helsinki, Laaninen emphasised that hospitality has always been one of the strongest characteristics of the Finnish countryside.
Source: Helsingin Sanomat - International Edition: Ombudsman for Minorities denounces MP’s comments as racist (6.5.2011) http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Ombudsman+for+Minorities+denounces+MP%E2%80%99s+comments+as+racist/1135265817969
