Centre Party MP Mikko Kärnä has announced on Twitter that he has been charged with the defamation of Helsinki University's Professor of Constitutional Law Tuomas Ojanen.
In December 2020, Kärnä hinted on Twitter that Ojanen had written objections on behalf of MPs Mari Holopainen and Bella Forsgrén to the ruling of the Parliament's Constitutional Law Committee that Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto (Green) should not be prosecuted over his handling of the repatriation of Finnish citizens from the al-Hol camp in northern Syria.
Ojanen vehemently denied that he had written the dissenting opinion and said that at the time that he intended filing a defamation suit.
Prosecutor Maija Päivinen confirmed the filing of the charges to Yle, adding that the proceedings will likely start in Helsinki District Court next year.
Kärnä claims that the prosecutor's interpretation of the suit significantly restricts the constitutional rights of a Member of Parliament to publicly discuss the opinions of experts used by Parliament.
"I take the matter very seriously and intend to defend myself against the accusation," Kärnä wrote on Twitter.
Ojanen told news agency STT that he did not want to comment any further on the matter.