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Teuvo Hakkarainen

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Teuvo Hakkarainen
Member of the European Parliament
In office
2 July 2019 – 15 July 2024
ConstituencyFinland
Member of Finnish Parliament
for Central Finland
In office
20 April 2011 – 2 July 2019
Personal details
Born (1960-04-12) 12 April 1960 (age 64)
Viitasaari, Central Finland, Finland
Political partyFinns Party (until 2024)[1]
Other political
affiliations		Freedom Alliance
Websitewww.teuvohakkarainen.fi

Teuvo Hakkarainen (born 12 April 1960, in Viitasaari) is a Finnish politician and former member of the European Parliament. Before being elected to the European Parliament in the 2019 election, he had been a member of the Finnish Parliament since 2011.[2]

On 10 June 2017, Hakkarainen was elected Second Vice Chairman of the Finns Party.[3] He served in the position until December 2017, when he resigned the post after sexually harassing a fellow member of parliament.[4] On 30 April 2024, Hakkarainen decided to run in the 2024 European Parliament election in Finland as an uncommitted candidate of the Freedom Alliance after the Finns Party refused to nominate him for re-election.[5] This resulted in Hakkarainen getting expelled from the Finns Party on 9 May 2024.[6] He subsequently lost his seat in the European Parliament[7] and announced his retirement from politics.[8]

Views and comments

Sexual minorities

In May 2011, Hakkarainen was talking to junior high school students. When some students asked Hakkarainen's opinion about gay adoptions, he told students that "if two gays have a child, the child would become a double gay", and said that he did so jokingly because he would rather answer questions regarding government talks.[9]

In October 2011, Hakkarainen told the tabloid Ilta-Sanomat that homosexuals, lesbians and Somalis ought to be deported to Åland to form their own society.[10]

Death penalty

On 16 December 2015, as a member of Finnish Parliament and a representative of the Finns Party, Hakkarainen inquired the Minister of Justice, a member of the same party, if capital punishment could be re-enacted, referring to the court case against two asylum seekers.[11] They were suspected of 11 murders committed with terrorist intent in Iraq, but were released.[12]

Racism

Teuvo Hakkarainen and Laura Huhtasaari during the Constitution of the 9th legislature of the European Parliament in 2019

In April 2011, Hakkarainen openly expressed his opinions towards black people and Muslims in an interview with Helsingin Sanomat. During the interview Hakkarainen used a pejorative word neekeriukko (which translates to male "negro" or "nigger" and is considered as an offensive racial slur). He also made a mocking imitation of the Islamic call to prayer.[13][14]

The Ombudsman for Minorities of Finland, Eva Biaudet, asked the Prosecutor General of Finland to investigate if Hakkarainen may be guilty in some crimes according to the criminal codex for example incitement to ethnic or racial hatred.[15] Later The Finnish Police announced that they did not feel that comments made by Hakkarainen give cause for a criminal investigation. Police proposed to the Prosecutor General that no criminal investigation should be launched, saying that Hakkarainen's comments were an exercise of free speech, and not hate speech.[13] Hakkarainen defended the language he had used by stating that he comes from a rural background.[16]

In January 2017, Hakkarainen was convicted of incitement against an ethnic group.[17]

2017 sexual harassment case

In December 2017, Hakkarainen assaulted MP Veera Ruoho in the parliament house. The incident occurred at the parliament café where Ruoho was having a break during a debate, while the Finns Party were celebrating their Christmas party. Ruoho was sitting on a table as Hakkarainen grabbed her neck from behind and forcefully kissed her in the face. According to Ruoho, she was scared for her neck and her mouth hurt as well. Hakkarainen was under the influence of alcohol.[18][19] He was convicted of assault and sexual harassment for fines of 5,440 euros.[20]

Personal life

Hakkarainen was a co-owner of the Haka-Wood saw mill in Viitasaari. After his election to the Finnish parliament, Ilta-Sanomat reported that Haka-Wood had been granted 461,750 euros of European Union subsidies for a development project, even though Hakkarainen had run a heavily Eurosceptic campaign.[21] Haka-Wood received funds from the European Regional Development Fund. Hakkarainen stated to Helsingin Sanomat that "if we weren't members [of the EU], we wouldn't be asking them for money".[22] He subsequently sold his share of Haka-Wood.[23] Hakkarainen has worked as a sawmill consultant in Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador.[24]

In 1986, Hakkarainen was a member of a gang that broke into the Suomussalmi church and stole 125 eucharist chalices, 24 bottles of sacramental wine and the money offerings. He was given a 9 months suspended sentence.[25]

References

  1. ^ Hakahuhta, Ari (13 May 2024). "Perussuomalaiset erotti sekä Timo Vornasen että Teuvo Hakkaraisen puolueesta" (in Finnish). Yle Uutiset. Retrieved 13 May 2024.
  2. ^ "Tässä ovat Suomen mepit! MTV Uutiset esittelee kaikki 13 edustajaa Teuvo Hakkaraisesta Elsi Kataiseen". MTV Uutiset. 26 May 2019. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
  3. ^ "Perussuomalaisten maahanmuuttovastaisen siiven värisuora: Teuvo Hakkarainen valittiin 2. varapuheenjohtajaksi". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). 10 June 2017. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
  4. ^ "Deputy head of nationalist Finns Party quits leadership post after harassment". Reuters. 19 December 2017. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  5. ^ Laatikainen, Outi; Mattlar, Markus (2024-04-30). "Teuvo Hakkarainen sittenkin ehdolle EU-vaaleihin – hän on sitoutumaton ehdokas vapauden liiton listalla". Keskisuomalainen (in Finnish). Retrieved 2024-05-16.
  6. ^ "PS erotti Hakkaraisen ja Vornasen puolueesta – Hakkarainen: "En tiedä, mitä olen tehnyt"". www.iltalehti.fi (in Finnish). Retrieved 2024-05-16.
  7. ^ "Perussuomalaisista erotetulle Teuvo Hakkaraiselle kävi vaaleissa köpelösti" (in Finnish). yle.fi. 9 June 2024. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
  8. ^ "Teuvo Hakkarainen jättää politiikan – näin hän vihjaa tulevaisuudestaan". www.is.fi (in Finnish). Retrieved 2024-07-08.
  9. ^ "Kohu-Hakkaraiselta taas erikoinen lausunto". Iltalehti. 7 May 2011. Archived from the original on May 10, 2011. Retrieved 24 May 2011.
  10. ^ "Finns Party unlikely to punish controversial MP over recent slur". Yle News. 25 October 2011. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  11. ^ "Teuvo Hakkarainen ehdotti täysistunnossa kuolemantuomiota - "Eikö ole oikeus ja kohtuus?"" (in Finnish). Iltalehti. 16 December 2015.
  12. ^ Rimpiläinen, Tuomas (24 May 2017). "Todistajien anonyymiys nousi ratkaisevaan asemaan – Irakilaiskaksoset syyttömiä joukkomurhaan" (in Finnish). Aamulehti. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  13. ^ a b "Police find no evidence of crime in comments by True Finn MP Hakkarainen". Helsingin Sanomat. 11 May 2011. Retrieved 24 May 2011.
  14. ^ "Timo Soini reprimands new MP". Helsingin Sanomat. 29 April 2011. Retrieved 24 May 2011.
  15. ^ "MTVuutiset.fi". mtvuutiset.fi.
  16. ^ "KL.fi | Uutiset". www.kauppalehti.fi. Archived from the original on 2011-09-29.
  17. ^ "Three Finns Party politicians in court over online hate speech". Yle News. 4 January 2017. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  18. ^ Tuesday's papers: Parliament Christmas party mess, Niinistö poll lead and intelligence law latest, Yle News, 19 December 2019, retrieved 26 May 2019
  19. ^ Finns Party's Hakkarainen charged with assaulting and sexually harassing fellow MP, Yle News, 24 April 2018, retrieved 26 May 2019
  20. ^ Finns Party MP gets heftier fine for assault, sexual harassment, Yle News, 23 March 2019, retrieved 26 May 2019
  21. ^ "Perussuomalaiset: EU-vastainen Teuvo Hakkarainen sai EU-tuet - Ilta-Sanomat". Archived from the original on 2011-04-30.
  22. ^ "Edustaja Hakkarainen EU-tuista: Sinne maksetaan ja sieltä otetaan - HS.fi - Politiikka". Archived from the original on 2011-05-02.
  23. ^ IS: Kansanedustaja Teuvo Hakkarainen luopui sahan osakkeista, Aamulehti, 27 May 2011, archived from the original on May 31, 2011, retrieved 31 May 2011
  24. ^ "Hakkarainen on kulttihahmo Hondurasissa". Iltalehti. 28 Feb 2012. Archived from the original on March 1, 2012. Retrieved 11 Aug 2012.
  25. ^ "Teuvo Hakkarainen varasti ehtoollishopeat kirkosta" (in Finnish). Savon Sanomat. 26 May 2011. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
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