The Finnish Constitution protects Extinction Rebellion Finland’s (Finnish: Elokapina) demonstrations, the Helsinki District Court ruled in a verdict on Friday 5 April. Annamaija Hakama, Jessica Piasecki and Lauri Kangassalo are pleased with the ruling, saying it strengthens Extinction Rebellion Finland’s ability to fight for climate justice at a critical moment. Extinction Rebellion Finland will return to the streets with a series of historically massive roadblock demonstrations, starting on 7 June.

Today the Helsinki District Court dismissed all charges against Extinction Rebellion Finland. The charges dismissed were fraud, public incitement to commit a crime and providing false testimony to a public authority. This decision strengthens Extinction Rebellion Finland’s legal status in a situation where the police have suppressed the right to protest and the prosecutor has brought charges on very weak grounds.

We are pleased and even proud that the district court did not start criminalising climate activism, as has happened in many European countries. The court’s decision will also make it easier for Extinction Rebellion Finland to raise funds in the future, which will help make the demonstrations more impactful than ever before.

Extinction Rebellion Finland launched its new 1.5°C campaign last Thursday, 4 April with an impressive art demonstration. The campaign’s message is that the Paris Agreement is broken, climate change is accelerating and Finland is breaking its own climate law. It demands that the government immediately cut polluting subsidies to save the last shreds of credibility in its climate policy.

Fundraising done according to procedure

Elonvaalijat ry, the organisation that provided Extinction Rebellion Finland with financial support, commented on the verdict on its website. The organisation is pleased with the dismissal of the charges after a “trial that felt like an exercise in Kafkaesque subjugation”.

The organisation writes that according to the ruling, Extinction Rebellion Finland’s demonstrations are constitutionally protected. Therefore, the funds raised were used for a lawful purpose. The Helsinki District Court considers it undisputed that the funds were used for the lawful purpose for which they were collected. The court ruled that all of the prosecutor’s charges were unfounded and ordered that the confiscated 20,000 euros be returned to Elonvaalijat.

“As our next step we intend to use the funds originally raised to support Extinction Rebellion Finland. (…) We also intend to continue normal fundraising activities with Extinction Rebellion Finland and possibly other grassroots organisations in the future,” Lauri Kangassalo, the chairperson of Elonvaalijat association, describes the organisation’s plans.

Acceptance and support for Extinction Rebellion Finland – no incitement to crime

In the trial, Annamaija Hakama was charged with public incitement to offence for an article published by Yleisradio, the Finnish public media company, in September 2021. In the article, Hakama states that she supports Extinction Rebellion Finland’s activism and is willing to pay the young activists’ fines.

In today’s decision, the Helsinki District Court considers that there is nothing illegal in Hakama’s interview answers. “The District Court considers that Hakama’s statements were more an expression of acceptance and support for the actions of the Extinction Rebellion Finland’s movement,” the court said in its reasoning for dismissing the charges.

Annamaija Hakama says she is happy that justice has prevailed and that the district court has dismissed the criminal charges.

“Freedom of assembly, civil disobedience and the public expression of support for them are at the heart of a functioning, critical democracy. The present decision defends these rights in accordance with the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. It is good that Finland has not gone down the European path of criminalising climate activism. Instead, we can be proud of our functioning democracy. I’m even more ready to defend everyone’s right to protest for a habitable planet – even through civil disobedience,” says Hakama.

Nobody misled, no fraud

Regarding the allegations of fraud, the District Court found that the donor knew all along that the grant money was to be used specifically for Extinction Rebellion Finland’s climate activism. There was therefore no attempt or even possibility to mislead anyone. The panel of experts who decided to award the grant considered Extinction Rebellion Finland’s work to be an appropriate use of the money. In the same way, the Kone Foundation considered grassroots climate activism to be an appropriate recipient for the 200 000€ grant that it awarded Extinction Rebellion Finland last summer.

This summer, Extinction Rebellion Finland invites people to rebel for climate justice. The 1.5°C safety threshold has been crossed and the government is breaking Finland’s climate law. Throughout the summer, Extinction Rebellion Finland will organise protests across Finland, culminating in the Storm Warning protests on 7 June onwards. The aim is to organise the largest series of civil disobedience demonstrations in Finland so far. With these demonstrations, Extinction Rebellion Finland is bringing the climate crisis back into focus of public discussion.

Contact: media@elokapina.me

  • Read more about the new 1,5C campaign here.