Police launch defamation probe after MP’s husband calls editor “serial drowner”

Eastern Finland police will open a preliminary investigation into suspected defamation after the husband of Finns Party MP Minna Reijonen allegedly insulted a local newspaper’s editor-in-chief on Facebook, Savon Sanomat reports.

Ari Reijonen, the MP’s spouse, referred to the editor as a “serial drowner” and a “happy widow” in a comment on a story about his wife. The editor’s spouse and child died in a tractor accident through ice over a decade ago.

The editor filed a criminal complaint, now forwarded for pre-trial investigation. Reijonen later deleted the comment and posted an apology; Minna Reijonen has also apologised for her husband’s remarks. The investigation has not yet begun.