MP Päivi Räsänen (CD), who was convicted of hate speech by the Finnish Supreme Court, intends to appeal the ruling to the European Court of Human Rights.
In March, the Supreme Court convicted Räsänen of incitement against homosexuals.
She was ordered to pay 20 income-linked day fines. Based on Räsänen's income, that adds up to 1,800 euros. The sentence followed four years of court proceedings.
The judgment was based on a pamphlet published by Räsänen in 2004. Its title, based on a phrase in the Old Testament's Book of Genesis, translates roughly as "Male and Female He Created Them: Homosexual Relationships Challenge the Christian Understanding of Humanity". She posted it on her Facebook page in 2019.
The pamphlet was also published online by the Finnish Luther Foundation and the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese, two ultraconservative groups within the country's dominant Evangelical Lutheran Church that oppose same-sex marriages and female ordination. A Luther Foundation bishop was subsequently convicted and fined on the same charge.
In her booklet, Räsänen – who is also a physician – described homosexuality as "a disorder of psychosexual development" and a "sexual abnormality".
In a statement on Friday, Räsänen argued that peaceful expression of belief should not be considered a crime.
"You can freely oppose and criticise my writings and views, but labelling opinions as a crime seriously restricts freedom of speech," Räsänen wrote.
The case has attracted international attention, including among fundamentalist and Republican groups in the United States. Earlier this year, Räsänen was invited to testify about her case at a US congressional hearing.
The March ruling was criticised in an editorial in the Jeff Bezos-owned Washington Post and in an unusual social media post by the American Embassy in Helsinki. The latter resulted in a rebuke from the Finnish Foreign Ministry, which emphasised to US Ambassador Howard Brodie that Finland has an independent judiciary.
