Finland Supreme court passes judgement on minor’s Sexual Abuse by refugee, says it’s not rape; discontent over verdict rising

Helsinki: Judgement of the Supreme Court of Finland in the case of sexual abuse of a minor girl by a refugee has become a cause of severe unrest. The Supreme Court has kept the mild punishment awarded by the lower courts unchanged accepting that the incident did not amount to rape. This has had severe repercussions in the social and political sectors in Finland and the demand for a stronger punishment for sexual abuse is rising.

An incident of sexual abuse of a ten year old girl by a refugee named ‘Juusuf Muhamed Abbudin’ had been reported in the city of Tampere in 2016. The lower court had imposed a fine of 3000 euros and a jail term of 3 years on the accused refugee. The government lawyers had argued in the Supreme Court that this act of the 23-year-old refugee Juusuf, amounted to rape and should be meted out a more severe punishment.

But the Supreme Court observed that there are no signs of use of force and rejected the claim of rape in the case. The Supreme Court said in its judgement, that the punishment given by the lower court was appropriate.

There are severe reactions coming from Finland about the judgement. The concerned judgement is being criticised at a public level as well as in the media and displeasure is being expressed at all levels. Professor of Tampere University Tuula Tamminen expressed shock and pointed out that minor girls don’t even realise what happens in such incidences.

Severe reactions had emerged from the political circles about the judgement of the lower court. The Law Minister of Finland had appealed to put in efforts to bring more stringent laws against sexual offences on minors. Some of the senior Parliamentarians have taken an insistent stand demanding stronger punishment in such cases.

Over the last few years, there is a consistent rise in crime in Europe, attributed to the continuous influx of refugees. There is a significant rise in the offenses committed against the local women and young girls in Europe. The security agencies and scholars have also presented reports demarcating certain areas in countries like Germany, France and Sweden as unsafe for women. A few years ago, the German society had been shocked by the refugees who had harassed women, taking advantage of the New Year celebrations.

The Finland court’s verdict goes to prove that despite such incidences, the European legal systems have still not given serious consideration to the issue of taking action against refugees. This can have its repercussions even in other European nations besides Finland.