Helsinki District Court fined former European Parliament election candidate Armando Mema for heckling European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen during her visit to Finland.
Mema was fined €110 on August 11 for “causing harm to a public official”.
“The court sentenced me guilty of a crime I did not commit,” said Mema.
The incident took place in June 2024 during the EP election campaign.
At the time, von der Leyen was in Finland at the invitation of Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, delivering a speech about the importance of free speech in Europe.
She even quipped that “in Russia, people would be arrested if they spoke their mind”.
At the speech, Finnish police arrested Mema for shouting questions at her.
On social media video of the arrest mid-way through von der Leyen’s free speech narrative drew both laughter and disbelief online.
"In Russia, you would be arrested", von der Leyen tells a protestor as he's being arrested. pic.twitter.com/kPxEyrrUI3
— Erik Dale ⚡ (@EuroDale) August 7, 2025
Mema, an Albanian-Italian citizen, was given a Sicilian interpreter for his Finnish court hearing.
According to him, the interpreter’s accent was so thick he could barely understand it.
“I didn’t understand the interpreter’s Italian, nor the Finnish,” he said, questioning whether the trial could be considered fair.
In a video following the hearing, Mema insisted he did nothing wrong, framing the case as a warning sign for Europe’s democracy: “This is a very serious question of freedom of speech in the EU. Peaceful protest is a human right.
“The United Nations recognises it. Finland claims to be one of the most democratic countries, and yet opposition candidates get arrested for asking questions.
“When the EU President says, ‘Thank you, you’re not in Russia, because there you’d be in prison,’ and then I’m arrested on the spot — that should make headlines everywhere. People must ask themselves: Is this democracy?” he added.
The court also ruled that Mema must now get police permission before taking part in any protest in Finland.
“I can’t just go and join a demonstration without asking the police first. Is that freedom of speech? I’ll let European citizens decide,” he said.
On August 7, Mema also alleged that Finnish journalists in the country were not allowed to report on his case.
“My questions were too uncomfortable for Ursula and the Prime Minister of Finland. The main news in Finland did not report the incident. Their answer was: We are not allowed to publish this.
“Journalists were silenced and not allowed to do their job freely,” he claimed on X.
Mema’s comments came as the Finnish Supreme Court was gearing up for a high-profile hearing regarding former interior minister Päivi Räsänen, who faces legal challenges over expressing her religious views on sexuality and marriage.
