MFRR in Focus: Aftermath of Finland’s unprecedented state secrets conviction

Finland, "the land of the free press", made headlines in January
this year, when two journalists were convicted of disclosing
state secrets in the infamous Finnish Intelligence Research
Center case.


In December 2017, Helsingin Sanomat, Finland’s leading daily
newspaper, published an article about the activities of the
Finnish Intelligence Research Center. The piece was the first in
a series of articles aiming to shed light on plans to give
Finland’s security services greater powers to carry out
surveillance and covert operations domestically and abroad.


Soon after the publication, authorities opened an investigation
into the newspaper and the authors of the article. Five years
later, following a lengthy investigation and trial, the Helsinki
District Court convicted journalist Laura Halminen and her
colleague Tuomo Pietiläinen of disclosing state secrets.


On this podcast episode, we will have a closer look at the chain
of events which lead to the landmark conviction, and how the long
and unprecedented legal proceedings have affected press freedom
in Finland and abroad.


Guests: Salla Nazarenko, International Affairs Specialist at the
Union of Journalists in Finland and Riku Neuvonen, Associate
Professor of Media Law, Researcher and Senior Lecturer of Public
Law at Tampere University and University of Helsinki.


Producer and Host: Ronja Koskinen, Press Freedom Officer at IPI.


Editor: Ronja Koskinen, Press Freedom Officer at IPI and Javier
Luque, Head of Digital Communications at IPI.