CultNEWS101 Articles: 9/26/2020

QAnon, Bleach Miracle, Troubled Teen Industry, Sergei Torop, Vissarion, Neo-Nazi, Finland

The Guardian: Quite frankly terrifying': How the QAnon conspiracy theory is taking root in the UK

"It began in the US with lurid claims and a hatred of the 'deep state'. Now it's growing in the UK, spilling over into anti-vaccine and 5G protests, fuelled by online misinformation. Jamie Doward examines the rise of a rightwing cult movement.

He was desperate and scared and pleading for advice. "It's integrating itself into soft rightwing timelines and I believe it's starting to radicalise many. Seeing my mum and nan fall for it unaware is so troubling. I've seen it all over Facebook and these people genuinely believe they're revealing the truth."

It is QAnon, the unfounded conspiracy theory that has gone through countless, bewildering versions since it emerged in the US in 2017 and is now spreading like California's wildfires across the internet.

At its core are lurid claims that an elite cabal of child-trafficking paedophiles, comprising, among others, Hollywood A-listers, leading philanthropists, Jewish financiers and Democrat politicians, covertly rule the world. Only President Trump can bring them to justice with his secret plan that will deliver what QAnon's disciples refer to as 'The Storm' or 'The Great Awakening'."

The Guardian: Bleach touted as 'miracle cure' for Covid being sold on Amazon

Consumers buying chlorine dioxide solution on Amazon platform say they have been drinking fluid despite FDA warnings

" ... Proponents of MMS falsely claim that it is a cure-all for almost all diseases, including malaria, HIV/Aids, cancer and now Covid-19. They also market it untruthfully as a cure for the condition autism.

Since the start of the pandemic, the FDA has been trying to clamp down on fraudulent dealers of quack remedies claiming to protect against the virus. Last August the agency issued a strong health warning that MMS bleach products could be life-threatening.

The American Association of Poison Control Centers has recorded more than 16,000 cases of chlorine dioxide poisoning, including 2,500 cases of children under 12. Many of those individuals suffered serious side effects, the group noted, including a six-year-old autistic girl who three years ago required hospital treatment for liver failure."

People: Paris Hilton and Drew Barrymore Reflect on Being Placed in Solitary Confinement as Teens

"My mom just didn't know what to do with me — I was doing drugs, I was out of control," Drew Barrymore recalled on her talk show

When Drew Barrymore watched Paris Hilton's recent YouTube Originals documentary, she felt seen.

In This Is Paris, a nearly two-hour film helmed by Emmy-winning director Alexandra Dean, Hilton goes into detail about alleged abuse she suffered at boarding school in Utah — and how her trauma has carried over into adulthood. During an appearance on Monday's episode of Barrymore's new talk show, the stars reflected on their shared experience of being placed at institutions for minors with behavioral issues.

"We've known each other throughout our kid life, adult life — I've known you for many years," Barrymore, 45, told Hilton, 39. 'I feel like when it comes to an interviewer, maybe they haven't had the same experiences as you. So they're coming at it from more of a journalistic, interested but slightly removed, place. Well, not this time. I've been where you've been. And watching your documentary — I mean, I don't know how many interviews and conversations I'm going to have on this show where I'm watching a mirror image of everything I've been through, as well.'"

The Guardian: Cult leader who claims to be reincarnation of Jesus arrested in Russia

Former traffic officer Sergei Torop, AKA Vissarion, arrested in special operation in Siberia

"Russian authorities mounted a special operation to arrest a former traffic police officer who claims to be the reincarnation of Jesus and has run a cult based in the depths of Siberia for the past three decades.

Helicopters and armed officers stormed communities run by Sergei Torop, known to his followers as Vissarion, and arrested him and two of his aides. Russia's investigative committee said it would charge him with organising an illegal religious organisation, alleging that the cult extorted money from followers and subjected them to emotional abuse."

WBNG: Finnish top court bans Finland's main neo-Nazi group

"Finland's Supreme Court has banned a neo-Nazi group on the grounds that its activities are "significantly contrary to law." Police had sought to dissolve the right-wing Nordic Resistance Movement, known for being violent and openly racist, and two lower courts of law confirmed the ruling. Finland's highest court ruled that the group's activities "did not enjoy freedom of expression or freedom of association, as the association's activities by their nature entailed an abuse of these rights." In 2016, a fatal assault by a Finnish Neo-Nazi drew public attention and led to calls to ban racist and other extremist organizations in Finland."

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Director Zaida Bergroth On Cult Drama 'Maria's Paradise': "The Idea Was To Concentrate On The Love And Power" - Toronto Studio

Damon Wise
September 15, 2019
Deadline

There were quite a few films about cults at this year’s TIFF, and one of the more provocative meditations on human manipulation came from Finland. Titled Maria’s Paradise, Zaida Bergroth’s film was inspired by the true story of Maria Åkerblom, who ran a cult in rural Finland that caused a major scandal back in the 1920s.

“I got extremely intrigued by this main character, Maria Åkerblom,” Bergroth told us when she came to the Deadline studio with her cast. “She lived in Finland in [the] 1920s, she was a leader of a Christian cult, and she was extremely charismatic, but she had a very dark side to her. After that, we started to write the script and explore her character, and then we came up with a story about Maria and her favorite girl follower, Salome, a young teenager who absolutely adored her, and didn’t see anything negative about her actions. It was their relationship that really intrigued me.”

Pihla Viitala, who plays Maria, admits that she was a difficult character to portray. “She’s very complicated,” she said, “and when we started to build up the character, we were wondering how she ended up being like she was. Basically, I was thinking that she wanted to have love and admiration from people, and, in this very selfish way, she was getting it. It was interesting to play because she was very unpredictable and limitless, so anything was possible.”

“The main idea was to really concentrate on the love and power in their relationship,” said Bergroth, “because I think no relationship is free from that power balance anyway. But it’s very interesting to me how Maria used love to control, and this was the main issue we really focused on. What we know about the real-life cult of Maria was that the members of the cult were not allowed to speak to anybody else… [She would say] ‘We are special, you need to be really loyal to me, and if I can’t count on your loyalty, then all hell will break loose.’ All of these really simple things that really affect your emotions—and that’s how you’re played.”

To hear more about Maria’s Paradise, watch the interview above.

https://deadline.com/video/marias-paradise-zaida-bergroth-interview-video-toronto-film-festival/

Jehovah's Witnesses lose exemption from military service

YLE News

February 28, 2019

The law allowing male Jehovah's Witnesses to avoid conscription was ruled discriminatory by Finland's Parliament.

Parliament on Wednesday turned over a law that has allowed male members of Jehovah’s Witnesses to skip military or civilian service without facing a prison term. The exemption dating from 1987 has long been considered problematic from a constitutional standpoint.

Last year, the Helsinki Court of Appeal ruled that the Finnish practice of allowing male Jehovah's Witnesses to avoid conscription is discriminatory. The ruling related to a discrimination case brought by a man who was imprisoned in 2016 for refusing conscripted service.

Under current legislation Jehovah's Witnesses may postpone their entry into service for three years at a time (starting at age 18), until their obligation officially ceases at age 29.

Proponents of the religious faction say their objection is rooted in their pacifist reading of the Bible. With the exception of women, who have never been legally bound to enter conscription, no other groups in Finland have had the same right.

https://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/jehovahs_witnesses_lose_exemption_from_military_service/10666555

Jehovah's Witnesses, Fleeing Russia Crackdown, Seek Shelter in Finland

Andrew Higgins
New York Times
July 16, 2018

TURKU, Finland — Sergey Avilkin, one of the hundreds of Russians now sheltering in Finland to avoid arrest as “extremists” in their home country, has no interest in politics or politicians and says that he has always followed the biblical injunction to “render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.”

But the 42-year-old father of three would still like President Trump to ask President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia a simple question when the two leaders meet in Helsinki, the Finnish capital, on Monday: Why are Russians who pay their taxes, follow the law and embrace the Christian values promoted by the Kremlin being forced to flee their country?

“We don’t steal, we don’t smoke, we don’t drink and always try to obey the law,” said Mr. Avilkin, sitting in the kitchen of the apartment he recently rented for his family in Turku, a city west of Helsinki, while he waits for Finland’s immigration service to process an application for asylum. “But I am 100 percent sure that if I had not left I would now be in prison.”

Along with most of the other Russians who have sought shelter in Finland, Mr. Avilkin and his family are Jehovah’s Witnesses, a Christian denomination that the Russian Supreme Court declared an “extremist” organization and effectively outlawed in April last year.

With issues like arms control, the conflicts in Syria and Ukraine, and Russian meddling in the 2016 election in the United States expected to be discussed, it is unlikely that the two presidents will have the time — or the inclination — to address the fate of Russia’s Jehovah’s Witnesses when they meet.

But Mr. Avilkin, his wife, Lena, their three school-age children and around 300 other Russians scattered in refugee camps and low-rent housing around Finland are a stark reminder of the obstacles, rarely mentioned by Mr. Trump but still very real, that impede his desire to “get along with Russia.”

The Russian court ruling, which put Bible-reading Christians who reject all violence in the same category of extremism as supporters of the Islamic State, set off a harsh crackdown across Russia. The Jehovah’s Witness headquarters near St Petersburg were seized by the state, prayer halls around the country were raided by the police and scores of believers were arrested.

“What we have seen in Russia since the Jehovah’s Witness organization was banned outright last year is without doubt the most severe crackdown on religious freedom since the Soviet era,” said Geraldine Fagan, the author of “Believing in Russia — Religious Policy after Communism.”

“In key respects, it is uncannily reminiscent of late Soviet-era practice,” Ms. Fagan added.

The State Department has said it is “extremely concerned by the Russian government’s action targeting and repressing members of religious minorities, including Jehovah’s Witnesses, under the pretense of combating extremism.”

But Mr. Trump, who won the 2016 election with strong support from evangelical Christians, has so far remained silent on the matter.

Finland, like the rest of Europe, has years of experience dealing with asylum-seekers, but until Russia branded Jehovah’s Witnesses as extremists, those seeking refuge in the country were largely from the Middle East and Africa.

Anu Karppi, an official in the asylum division of Finland’s immigration service, said that only 10 Russians had applied for asylum in 2016, but, after the crackdown on Jehovah’s Witnesses, that number rose to 251 last year, with an additional 208 applications by Russians in the first six months of this year.

Ms. Karppi said applicants needed to establish that they faced a real risk, not just a fear, of persecution in order to gain asylum in Finland. The few applications processed so far have been rejected, and Ms. Karppi said that while Russia was certainly “enforcing measures” against Jehovah’s Witnesses, the severity of the campaign varied from region to region.

“We look at every application case by case,” she said. “At the moment, the situation does not seem to be that every Jehovah’s Witness is under the threat of persecution, but we follow the situation closely. If everyone was being persecuted, then everyone would be granted asylum.”

After initially targeting only male Jehovah’s Witnesses, Russian law-enforcement agencies this month arrested a woman, Anatastasiya Polyakova, a follower of the denomination in the Siberian city of Omsk. Her husband, Sergey, was also arrested, after being severely beaten during a police raid on their home.

Forum 18, a Norwegian group that promotes religious freedom, reported that more than 50 Jehovah’s Witnesses are now under investigation in Russia on criminal charges of “extremism.”

Unlike many religious groups, Jehovah’s Witnesses, who number more than 170,000 in Russia and more than eight million worldwide, have a policy of staying politically neutral and have not assembled a powerful lobbying machine in either Washington or Moscow.

The group’s distaste for politics and sometimes idiosyncratic theology, which puts it at odds with many other Christian denominations, has made the denomination an easy target in Russia, where the Orthodox Church, a close ally of the Kremlin, views Jehovah’s Witness as a heretical sect.

Because followers generally do not vote and have a long record of resisting military service and all collaboration with the security services, they have no allies in Russia’s political and security establishments, which have united against them.

Mr. Avilkin’s wife, Lena, recalled how doctors at a state hospital in Moscow where the couple took the daughter, Katya, for cancer treatment as a baby had, after consultation with Russian prosecutors, told them to “take your child away and let her die” after they refused to allow blood transfusions, which are banned by their faith. The couple later found a private doctor in St. Petersburg willing to operate without transfusions and their daughter, now a healthy 12-year-old, survived.

The European Court of Human Rights ruled in 2013 that the hospital had violated human rights by divulging the medical record of the Avilkins’ daughter to Russian prosecutors, who had demanded that public hospitals report all cases of Jehovah’s Witnesses who refused transfusions.

The issue of transfusions has been at the center of a long campaign of criticism by Russian foes of the denomination, who include some medical professionals and disenchanted former followers, but are mostly people close to and sometimes funded by the Orthodox Church.

While the decision by Jehovah’s Witnesses not to get involved in politics and their determination to live out the teachings of the Bible may be points in their favor in Russia, their lack of patriotic fervor and the fact the group’s worldwide headquarters is in the United States have made them deeply suspect in the eyes of the Orthodox Church and the Russian state.

“In Putin’s eyes, they have no political value; what ‘traditional values’ they may have are of no use to him if they cannot be co-opted,” Ms. Fagan said.

Valeri Kikot, another Jehovah’s Witness who fled to Finland, said he had made a good living in Russia running a small construction company and had benefited from the stability brought by Mr. Putin’s 18-years in power.

“We had a good life,” he said. “I was never against Putin and, if the authorities had not turned against us, I would definitely have stayed in Russia.”

Mr. Kikot, 55, now lives with his wife and two young children in a single room in a hulking building for refugees in Turku. They share a kitchen with asylum seekers from Syria.

A committed atheist until he became a Jehovah’s Witness as an adult, Mr. Kikot said he had never imagined ending up as a refugee and had fled Russia only because he worried that the authorities might prosecute him and his wife, a former follower of the Russian Orthodox Church, and seize their children.

“We understood that they could enter our house any day and take away our kids,” he said. “We had to leave.”



https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/16/world/europe/putin-trump-russia-jehovahs-witness.html

EU court says Jehovah's Witnesses must comply with data privacy laws in door-to-door preaching

Foo Yun Chee

REUTERS
July 10, 2018

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Jehovah’s Witnesses must obtain consent from people before they take down their personal details during door-to-door preaching in order to comply with EU data privacy rules, Europe’s top court ruled on ... [July 10th].

The case arose after Finland in 2013 banned Jehovah’s Witnesses from collecting personal data during door-to-door visits.

The U.S.-based Christian denomination, which says it has more than 8 million followers worldwide, challenged the decision, saying that its preaching should be considered a personal religious activity and as such the notes taken down during such visits are also personal.

A Finnish court subsequently asked the Luxembourg-based Court of the Justice of the European Union (ECJ) for advice, which said on Tuesday that such religious activity is not covered by exemptions granted to personal activity.

“A religious community, such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses, is a controller, jointly with its members who engage in preaching, for the processing of personal data carried out by the latter in the context of door-to-door preaching,” judges said.

“The processing of personal data carried out in the context of such activity must respect the rules of EU law on the protection of personal data.”

Under EU data protection rules, a controller determines how and why the personal data is processed.

Jehovah’s Witnesses differ from mainstream Christianity in a number of their beliefs, including rejecting the doctrine of the Trinity and opposing blood transfusions and military conscription.

(Additional reporting by Robert-Jan Bartunek; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)

http://www.euronews.com/2018/07/10/eu-court-says-jehovahs-witnesses-must-comply-with-data-privacy-laws-in-door-to-door-preaching

Finnish Jehovah's Witnesses not exempt from conscription, working group finds

YLE News

July 3, 2018

A working group from the Ministry of Defence said that Finland's laws exempting Jehovah's Witnesses from military conscription should be abolished.

The working group presented their report - which proposes that Finland repeal the exemption law - to Defence Minister Jussi Niinistö on Monday.

Every year in Finland some 20,000 young men take part in the country's mandatory military conscription programme. Instead of serving in the military, young men have the option of carrying out their national service in civilian settings.

But young Jehovah's Witnesses have had the right to refuse to serve the country - militarily or even in a civilian capacity - since 1987.

The topic of whether followers of the Christian denomination should be compelled to serve in Finland's military has been debated for years.

Teemu Penttilä, leader of the defence ministry working group behind the report, said the time to change the law has arrived.

"The civil service [system] has changed significantly in recent years. For example, religious communities now offer places of employment [in civil service]. There has been a clear societal change," Penttilä said.
Long history

Finland has been dealing with this issue for more than a decade. In 2006 a Defence Ministry working group examined the topic but did not reach any conclusions. A similar effort - this time consulting foreign experts - was carried out in 2009 but had similar results.

Efforts by defence ministers in 2011 and 2013 also failed to reach a solution. The subject re-emerged this year. In a pivotal ruling, the Helsinki Court of Appeal found that permitting male Jehovah's Witnesses to avoid conscription was discriminatory.

The implementation of the law protecting Jehovah's Witnesses from conscription more than three decades ago came as a response to criticism Finland received from the UN Human Rights Committee. The committee said it viewed conscientious objectors as prisoners of conscience and accused Finland of not fulfilling its international obligations.

Before the law changed in the late 1980s, every year dozens of Jehovah's Witnesses were jailed for not complying with conscription laws.
Increase in total objectors possible

Jehovah's Witness' spokesperson Veikko Leinonen has previously said Finland's laws on mandatory civil service violate the religious group's authority.

Leinonen warned that abolishing the exemption would result in a return to the situation before the law was instated, and that members of the church would rather choose to serve jail sentences than serve.

But the Defence Ministry's Penttilä disagreed, saying that the working group consulted several Jehovah's Witnesses representatives who vowed that no one would be excluded from the church for carrying out civil service duties.

"We're aware there's a risk the number of total objectors may rise. But the working group found that it will not be a significant increase," Penttilä said.



https://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/finnish_jehovahs_witnesses_not_exempt_from_conscription_working_group_finds/10285341

Jehovah's Witness exemption from conscription deemed prejudicial in "pivotal" ruling

A Finnish court has ruled that the exemption from military service currently enjoyed by Jehovah's Witnesses is discriminatory.

Yle
February 23, 2018

A new court ruled on Friday that the Finnish practice of allowing male Jehovah's Witnesses to avoid conscription is discriminatory.

The Helsinki Court of Appeal on Friday voted 4-3 for naming the policy discriminatory against other conscientious objectors. The ruling came in a discrimination case brought by a man who was imprisoned in 2016 for refusing conscripted service the year before.

The decision is the first court verdict that directly denounces the decades-old exception (instated in 1987), which says that men belonging to the Jehovah's Witness denomination will uniquely not be sent to prison if they refuse both military and civilian service.

The Non-Discrimination Ombudsman, Parliament's Constitutional Affairs Committee and the Defense Ministry have long held that the law contradicts the constitution's principle of equality as well as its prohibition on discrimination.

Basis in faith

The majority of the court held that Finland has taken significant measures to improve equality since the exemption became law more than 30 years ago, such as signing the European Convention on Human Rights.

Under current legislation Jehovah's Witnesses may postpone their entry into service for three years at a time (starting at age 18), until their obligation officially ceases at age 29.

Proponents of the Christian faction cite their pacifist reading of the Bible as the basis of their objection, for which they receive no punishment. No other groups in Finland have the same right, except women, who have never been legally bound to enter conscripted service.

"Pivotal" step follows international condemnation

The Union of Conscientious Objectors (Finnish acronym AKL) tweeted about the news on Friday, calling the court's decision "pivotal" in the process towards banning conscription altogether.

Robin Harms, a senior advisor to the Non-Discrimination Ombudsman, has acted as legal counsel to the imprisoned man who originally brought the case to the Eastern Uusimaa District Court in 2015.

"Favouring Jehovah's Witnesses in this way is an embarrassment for Finland," Harms says.

More than that, human rights organisations including Amnesty International and the UN Human Rights Committee have long chastised the Finnish government for its ongoing practice of forced conscription. Only male (non-Witness) Finns are obliged to choose between military service, a longer civilian service term and a six-month prison (or remote monitoring) sentence.

AKL reports that an average of some 40 objectors have annually refused both military and civilian service since the beginning of the 21st century. Some 100 Jehovah's Witnesses plead the law of exception to avoid conscription each year. While 72 percent of young men enter military service (minimum 6 months) when called, some 2,000 men opt for a civilian service period (minimum 347 days).

All men who are jailed for objecting to conscription are considered by Amnesty International to be prisoners of conscience.

Justice Minister: Consider exemption anew

Justice Minister Antti Häkkänen said after the verdict that the current exemptions from military service should be evaluated in the light of the verdict.

"If some group or other has exemptions based on their beliefs, then in this day and age they should always be evaluated to make sure different groups are treated equally," said Häkkänen.

Häkkänen added that participation in national defence is mandated in the Finnish constitution, and that exceptions to that are based on religious convictions.

"How are those interests weighed against each other in different situations, especially in a changing world, then that's a big constitutional law question as well," said Häkkänen. "This is an interesting issue that must now be resolved fairly."

EDIT: This story was edited on 23 February to addcomments from the Justice Minister.

Sources Yle

https://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/jehovahs_witness_exemption_from_conscription_deemed_prejudicial_in_pivotal_ruling/10089261?origin=rss

Jehovah's Witness note-taking challenged at EU's top court

Deutsche Welle
February 1, 2018


Notes on door-to-door visits made by members of Jehovah's Witnesses breach EU data privacy law, according to the advocate general of the EU's top court. His finding backs the view of Finland's data protection commission.

The Luxembourg-based Advocate General Paolo Mengozzi on Thursday rejected a lawsuit filed by the Jehovah's Witness movement that asserts its members' notes are gathered only individually and do not breach the EU's privacy directive.

Instead, the report by the advocate general, whose findings often carry weight in the European Court of Justice, concluded that the Jehovah's Witnesses (JW) are centrally organized and the people visited by the group must give permission for note-taking.

As evidence, Mengozzi said that prior to the legal dispute the movement had provided printed forms for note-taking to its members.

Lawsuit origin in Finland

JW brought the case after a Finnish data protection commission ruled that the religious group could only record and process information on people its members spoke to within the confines of EU and Finnish privacy laws.

Finnish authorities found that JW members took notes on family members and the religious orientations of those visited without the individuals' permission for use in later visits.

Based in the US state of New York, the movement formed in the 19th century and has more than 8 million members worldwide. It preaches door-to-door, seeking to convert "outsiders" to its literal view of the Bible and belief that the end of the world is near.

Followers object to military service. During World War Two, members were widely persecuted.

Privacy cases frequent

Advocate general reports typically provide the basis for rulings by the Luxembourg court. Its verdict on the Finnish case is likely in several months.

The court has made a string of rulings on privacy issues, including its dismissal last week of a bid by an Austrian activist to bring a class action against Facebook.

In a related 2015 ruling, the court forced the EU and the United States to replace their "Safe Harbor" data sharing arrangement with a new system supposed to better safeguard personal data that firms in the US hold about Europeans.

http://www.dw.com/en/jehovahs-witness-note-taking-challenged-at-eus-top-court/a-42408206

Former neo-Nazi joins anti-radicalisation project

Uutiset
October 31, 2016

Finland's first project aimed at preventing radicalisation is off to a promising start. The project is intended to support those who want to leave extremist groups, whether they are political or religiously motivated. Bringing expertise to the project is a former neo-Nazi leader.

Esa Holappa käytti ennen toista nimeään Henrikiä, koska nimikirjaimet HH sopivat hyvin natsiaatteeseen. Nykyisin hän suosii etunimeään.
Esa Holappa at the Helsinki Book Fair Image: Eero Mäntymaa
This past weekend at the Helsinki Book Fair, the former neo-Nazi leader Esa Holappa took part in a discussion on the Finnish Resistance Movement, which he co-founded and led until four years ago.

"I wanted to keep everyone of a different colour out of Finnish and European society. In Nazi terminology, I considered them enemies of the white race," he said after the event based on his book Minä perustin uusnatsijärjestön (I Established a Neo-Nazi Group).

Last month the white-supremacist Finnish Resistance Movement was back in the headlines after a rally in central Helsinki during which one of its members allegedly attacked a passerby, who died of his injuries.

Far-right nationalists and jihadists

Now Holappa serves as an expert to a national project called Exit Radinet, which is part of the EU-funded Radical Awareness Network. The fledgling Finnish venture, which was launched early this year, is partly funded by the Slot Machine Association (RAY).

That he means he listens to and provides support and counselling for individuals who want to detach themselves from extremist groups, whether they are far-right nationalist or jihadist. It also offers support to those whose loved ones have become radicalised.

So far 12 young men – all young men who've been radicalised – have made contact with Radinet.

"They're people who are in difficult situations and who want to make changes in their lives. Regardless of whether the extremism is based on religion or politics, the starting point and how the process begins are usually quite similar," explains Radinet project coordinator Oussama Yousfi. He's an Algerian-born community educator and member of the city of Turku's youth board.

Breaking the cycle of violence

Practical help may include helping to find a new place to live or a job, as well as peer support from those with similar experiences such as Holappa. The former right-wing leader says that he wishes he had had someone like that to talk to when he was a teenager fascinated by Nazism.

"If I think about myself at the age of 18, somebody could have challenged my views by offering me more education and communication. I think that can be a way to influence extreme racist thinking," he tells Yle.

Although the project is just getting off the ground, it has already achieved some small successes, says Yousfi.

"The best thing about this work is the feedback, when we hear that through Radinet people have regained their faith in humanity," says Yousfi.

http://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/former_neo-nazi_joins_anti-radicalisation_project/9262981

Jehovah's Witnesses to hand over top secret manual

May 16. 2014
YLE

On Friday Finland's Jehovah's Witnesses will give their religious rule book to the Minister of Justice and the Minister of the Interior so that it can be inspected to ensure that it's in line with Finnish rule of law.

Until now, only senior members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses Committee have had access to the congregation's secret book of rules.

The disciplinary activities of the Jehovah's Witnesses Committee have been criticised for violating human rights.

According to Anna-Maja Henriksson, Finland's Minister of Justice, the purpose of the handover is to examine the book and determine whether its rules and regulations run counter to Finnish law.

Henriksson and Interior Minister Päivi Räsänen met on Thursday with the leadership of the Jehovah's Witnesses in Helsinki. The book will be handed over on Friday for inspection.

According to representatives of the Jehovah's Witnesses, committee practices have been changed recently and the committee no longer addresses or interferes in the matters of its members that are considered to go against church guidelines.

http://yle.fi/uutiset/jehovahs_witnesses_to_hand_over_top_secret_manual/7244267