Court fines Finnish PM’s ex-girlfriend for explicit book

HELSINKI - The Helsinki appeals court has fined Susan Ruusunen, an ex-girlfriend of Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen, and her publisher, Kari Ojala, for disseminating information that breached Vanhanen’s privacy.

The Helsinki appeals court Tuesday ruled that Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen’s ex-girlfriend violated his right to privacy by publishing an expose of their relationship. This overturns a lower court’s ruling in favour of Ruusunen.

Ruusunen had written a book chronicling her relationship with Vanhanen in explicit detail.

The Helsinki appeals court fined both Ruusunen and her publisher Ojala. The court ordered Ruusunen and Ojala to pay income-based fines of 300 and 840 euros respectively, and ordered them to pay about 8,500 euros in illicit gains to the state. It also told Ojala to pay Vanhanen 1,000 euros in damages and to cover his legal costs.

Prime Minister Vanhanen said Tuesday that he would not comment on the court’s decision at this stage but wait for a statutory 60-day period if a right of appeal is granted.

Last March, a lower court ruled that Ruusunen did not violate Prime Minister Vanhanen’s privacy by writing an explicit book about the relationship after it ended.