Chapter 11 – War crimes and crimes against humanity

Section 10 - Ethnic agitation (511/2011)

A person who makes available to the public or otherwise spreads among the public or keeps available for the public information, an expression of opinion or another message where a certain group is threatened, defamed or insulted on the basis of its race, skin colour, birth status, national or ethnic origin, religion or belief, sexual orientation or disability or a comparable basis, shall be sentenced for ethnic agitation to a fine or to imprisonment for at most two years.

Section 10(a) – Aggravated ethnic agitation (511/2011)

If the ethnic agitation involves incitement or enticement

(1) to genocide or the preparation of genocide, a crime against humanity, an aggravated crime against humanity, a war crime, an aggravated war crime, murder, or manslaughter committed for terrorist intent, or
(2) to serious violence other than what is referred to in paragraph 1 so that the act clearly endangers public order and safety,
and the ethnic agitation also when assessed as a whole is aggravated, the offender shall be sentenced for aggravated ethnic agitation to imprisonment for at least four months and at most four years.

Chapter 12 - Treasonable offences

Section 2 – Incitement to war

If a person in Finland or a Finnish citizen outside of Finland, during an ongoing or imminent military crisis or international political crisis, for the purpose of causing Finland to be at war or the target of a military operation

(1) publicly exhorts a foreign state to carry out an act of aggression against Finland or Finland to carry out an act of aggression against a foreign state,
(2) publicly disseminates statements or other propaganda intended to turn the public opinion in favour of the carrying out of acts of aggression,
(3) systematically disseminates manifestly unfounded or misleading information on the Finnish defence or the military or security policy of Finland, or
(4) unlawfully commits a violent act against a foreign state or the representative, territory or property of a foreign state
so that the act evidently increases the danger of Finland being at war or the target of a military operation, that person shall be sentenced for incitement to war to imprisonment for at least one and at most ten years.