Libel suit holds

Jani of Mummila.net, who got fame for getting sued by a religious headmaster, has come back from court, and... lost.

Today, in court, my criticism was considered to have “clearly gone beyond what can be considered reasonable” (my non-professional, and probably inaccurate translation of the part of 9 §, which this sentencing is based on). I was sentenced to a small fine (due to my small incomes), to pay the plaintiff’s related expences (also reasonably small), to pay a moderate, with respect to what was demanded, compensation for “mental anguish” (not sure about the right translation there, either, sorry!), and to pay the plaintiff’s legal expences, which in themselves go far beyond what little funds I currently have.

Oh man... Well, bloggers: Now you know that calling someone a shithead (especially someone with a bit of power) in your blog can get you punished.

It's just too bad that it happened to be this particular case. It cannot be said that Pöyry was completely without fault here, and Jani (or at least his blog personality) is a good person who calls things as he sees them. Same cannot be said for all persons on the internet...




Comments

Just to clarify: he wasn't sued, it was a criminal case prosecuted by the state. (Although in Finnish tradition, the headmaster's civil claims were handled in the same trial.)

--Antti-Juhani Kaijanaho, 21-Dec-2005


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