My thoughts on Jon Hellevig vs Karita Mattila.

I was reading (middle of the workday) about the "Government Crisis" on YLE when an article that linked me to this[alt] Helsingin Sanomat article. I still want to make a post about True Finns splitting two however 1) True Finns to me is a big research rabbit hole 2) I bet this court case will be buried under the "Government Crisis" 3) it relates to Freedom of Speech.

For those who didn't read the article (it is in Finnish after all) Jon Hellevig (how I don't know much about only that he is accused to be part of the kremlin machine) has been sentenced to 60 days to discharge imprisonment. What I understand is discharged sentences this was because first-time offence so we can only safely say that this guy was found guilty of something. According to Helsingin Sanomat (since district court rulings aren't on the internet) offences were defamation and illegal threat. Hellevig's comment comes after Mattila (opera singer) refused to work with a Russian conductor who signed himself in support of Russian intervention. The comment he said was (probably after edit not entirely sure since I think the post is now deleted) the following:

Translated by me without capslock... and some spelling mistakes... Hellevig said:

All polite Putin supporters tell me if there are some observations that this nazi whore Karita Mattila would perform in Finland. If so it must be welcomed as only Russians can. Those kinds of Nazis shouldn't think that they can fuck around abroad and then here in Finland think that everything is okay. Karita, you will never get peace of mind ever in Finland until you crawl to Senatintori and apology your fascism! Karita Mattila. You goddamn NWO whore. Next time you perform in Helsinki's Opera then we will put a big banner up where we accuse you of supporting Nazism. Don't think you goddamn Eva Braun Hitler's whore that you will get a pass on your homefield! All tell me when you hear that this nazi whore comes to Finland to perform then let's welcome it like in Russia.

I do like to note that Hellevig was running in the EU election under Independence Party when he made this comment. Party did cut ties as result. Which I think is fine since parently what he meant by "welcome like in Russia" was rape. He did defend himself by saying "spiritual rape" which still makes it sound like he had the aim to harm Mattila [Source[alt]]. From the same source, Hellevig had to ask where and when Mattila would perform so he could actually have been serious to make something happen. I have somewhat conflicted feelings about this story.

First of all, was this a credible threat? I have a hard time finding any threat that is made over Facebook credible. Of course, there is the fact that he did try to find out when he could protest against Mattila so there was more activity than the normal threat. However, if Mattila (or press) wouldn't have walked crossed the aether when Hellevig shouted this bullshit out would Mattila have been scared? And it is bullshit what he shouted. There is no doubt he deserved to be thrown out from Independence Party. Maybe threat really come from his audience because he is too easy to pick out of the opera audience. But let's remember that he delete the post and according to Helsinki Sanomat did publicly apologise. Why didn't this speech overturn the first speech to tell his audience not to rape her? Also, does Finnish Russians really known to be a rapist? I actually don't know. I have to look that up. I would assume not... Which would make Hellevig's "like in Russia" part rather racist.

The defamation part is much more interesting for me. Defamation wasn't considered to be aggravated. In some respect, the "nazi whore" can be seen as a "general" insult (like feminazi) however he did write like she is some fascist. There is no evidence that she is a fascist for not wanting to work with the person who supports Putin. It is a dick move my opinion since she is saying those who I work with must be politically pure but back to Hellevig. I can see why this could be considered to be defamation. Hellevig should have been more careful with the word nazi since he was running for a political job. The only thing that I would ask of Mattila is that next time try to talk in person before suing.