Finland's Supreme Court has denied Finns Party MP Sebastian Tynkkynen leave to appeal his conviction for ethnic agitation.
The Oulu District Court fined the politician 4,400 euros in October 2021 after finding him guilty in relation to two social media posts he wrote in 2017.
The ruling was Tynkkynen's third for ethnic agitation, following verdicts handed down in 2017 and 2019.
Writing on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, on Friday, Tynkkynen said he is considering the possibility of taking the case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
The Oulu court's verdict — which was also upheld by the Rovaniemi Court of Appeal — found that Tynkkynen had slandered and insulted immigrants and asylum seekers in two Facebook posts that were written as part of his municipal election campaign in 2017.
The court also ordered Tynkkynen to delete the posts.
The latest episode of Yle News' weekly podcast All Points North hears about the Finns Party's criticism of how media have reported recent racism scandals. Listen to the episode via this embedded player, on Yle Areena, Apple or via Spotify.
Would you like a roundup of the week's top stories in your inbox every Thursday? Then sign up to receive our weekly email.