National Coalition Party chair Petteri Orpo took to Twitter on Friday to express disbelief over threatening messages reportedly sent to NCP MP Veera Ruoho following a case in which she had been the victim of sexual harassment.
“It is quite inconceivable that @VeeraRuoho was first the victim of harassment at the workplace and the target of hate mail afterwards. All support for Veera! Pathetic actions by the perpetrators,” Orpo wrote.
Ruoho had been subjected to sexual harassment at the hands of Finns Party MP Teuvo Hakkarainen, who forcibly tried to kiss her at a parliamentary Christmas gathering last year. Earlier this week Hakkarainen was convicted on charges of assault and sexual harassment arising from the incident and sentenced to pay a 3,060-euro fine as well as 1,400 euros in damages to Ruoho.
Police looking into messages
According to reports by the news consortium Lännen Media, the messages have since been passed on to Parliament’s security unit, who are now cooperating with police.
“Reports of suspected criminal activity have been handed over to the officials who will also investigate the matter,” parliamentary security chief Jukka Savola told LM.
The contents of the messages were said to include personal attacks and allegedly expressed sympathy for Hakkarainen, LM reported.
The news service said that some of the messages claimed that the kind of violent attempts at kissing to which Hakkarainen subjected Ruoho could be seen as humour, and they condemned the female MP as being greedy and a liar. In his defence, Hakkarainen had said that he was too drunk to remember the incident.
Ruoho said that the messages caused her to feel fear and anxiety.
Hakkarainen has a previous conviction for online hate speech, handed down by a Jyväskylä court early last year.
