H.E. Tarja Halonen
President
Office of the President
Mariankatu 2
FIN-00170 Helsinki
Republic of Finland
Fax: (011.358.9) 63.82.47
Your Excellency:
We are frankly astonished to be writing this letter. Finland has an outstanding record of honoring freedom of the press, and if the Overseas Press Club of America has had any previous reason to write you or your predecessors in nearly seventy years of defending press freedom around the world, we have no record of it. Nonetheless, the International Press Institute (IPI) reports that your government has arrested, detained and tried a Finnish photographer, Markus Pentikäinen, for doing his job. If the case is as reported, this is a serious stain on your country@quot;s reputation.
According to the IPI, Pentikäinen, a staff photographer for the Finnish daily Suomen Kuvalehti, was covering events surrounding the ASEM (Asia-Europe Meeting) summit held in Helsinki on September 9, 2006. Anarchist groups in Finland had made clear their intention to organize demonstrations in Helsinki@quot;s Kiasma Square. Pentikäinen had been assigned to the demonstrations along with another photographer and a reporter from Suomen Kuvalehti. In the evening, a group of masked youths rushed a police line. The police ordered the demonstrators to disperse and cleared an area they had cordoned off. At about 9:20 p.m., Pentikäinen says he saw the excessive use of force by police officers, followed by a final call to leave the area. Pentikäinen refused to obey, believing his job was to continue reporting on events and that he had the constitutional right to remain at the scene.
Despite displaying press credentials, both Pentikäinen and another photographer, Ville Komsi, were arrested as they tried to leave after the police had finished their roundup. Pentikäinen was taken to a makeshift detention unit in a sports center, where he was questioned, had his equipment confiscated, and was held overnight for a total of 18 hours without the opportunity to contact either a lawyer or his colleagues at Suomen Kuvalehti. He was charged by the Helsinki District Court with refusal to obey police orders. According to Helsingin Sanomat, the trial began on October 23, 2007, and Pentikäinen pleaded not guilty, protesting that his 18-hour detention amounted to preemptive censorship and was a violation of freedom of the press. We have had no report on further proceedings in the trial. If convicted, Pentikäinen faces a probable fine, although his lawyers argue that his arrest contravenes his constitutionally protected rights under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Mr. President, if the facts are as reported, we can only agree. The photographer was recording events on a public square, where he posed no threat and was not himself demonstrating. The only plausible reason for the police to order Pentikäinen to leave was to prevent him from documenting excessive violence. That is a tactic we are all too used to seeing in Myanmar or Zimbabwe; in Finland, it comes as a shock and a disgrace. We trust that the court in this case will arrive at the right judgment, but we also urge you to restate your commitment to the principles of press freedom and to clarify the rights of journalists for law enforcement officers at all levels of Finland@quot;s government.
Thank you for your attention to this serious matter. We would appreciate a reply.
Respectfully yours,
Larry Martz
Norman A. Schorr
Co-chairmen, Freedom of the Press Committee
cc:
Matti Taneli Vanhanen
Prime Minister
Office of the Prime Minister
Snellmaninkatu 1A
FIN-00170 Helsinki
Republic of Finland
Fax: (011.358.9) 47.87.11
Pekka Lintu
Ambassador of Finland to the U.S.A.
Embassy of the Republic of Finland
3301 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington DC 20008
Fax: (202) 298-6030
Ambassador Kirsti Eeva Helena Lintonen
Permanent Representative
Permanent Mission of the Republic of Finland to the United Nations
866 United Nations Plaza, Suite 222
New York, NY 10017
Fax: (212) 759-6156
Marilyn Ware
U.S. Ambassador to Finland
Embassy of the United States of America
Itäinen Puistotie 14 B
00140 Helsinki
Finland
Fax: (011.358.9) 61.62.58.00