November 17 2022
Two astrophysicists win defamation trial after calling out harassment
Two astrophysicists at the University of Helsinki, Finland, were today acquitted of “aggravated defamation” and “aggravated dissemination of information that violates privacy” in the district court of Southwest Finland in the city of Turku [1]. They had spoken out when Christian Ott, an astrophysicist previously suspended due to harassment, was hired at the University of Turku. The prosecutor had demanded suspended prison sentences or substantial fines, while Ott demanded €60,000.
“I am relieved that our right to speak out was affirmed today, but I remain concerned how people in positions of power downplayed harassment in this case. The issue is harassment, not the fact that people are finally talking about it”, says Till Sawala, one of the defendants. “Too much attention has been paid to protecting the reputation of institutions or the perpetrators of harassment. Our attention should be on the rights of the victims, and focus on creating a community where everyone can feel safe.”
“I welcome the acquittal after over three years of process. I hope this case will set a precedent”, comments Syksy Räsänen, the other defendant. “No one should have to fear fines or a prison sentence for simply speaking out against harassment based on widely and reliably reported facts. The threat alone can have a chilling effect that can set back work against harassment. We had the financial resources, and support from our scientific community, to contest the baseless charges against us. If someone in a less secure position, such as a PhD student, were to be put in this situation, they might not fare so well.”
In 2015, an investigation at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) had found that Ott had committed “unambiguous gender-based harassment” of two graduate students. The case received international media attention [2, 3, 4, 5, 6]. Ott had been placed on unpaid leave for nine months and his suspension was extended after he breached its terms. During the Turku trial, it was revealed that Ott received his full salary of over $200,000 from Caltech in 2017.
Following Ott’s resignation at the end of 2017, in January 2018, it emerged that Ott was due to be hired at the University of Turku [8]. Just prior to this, Ott had been offered a job at the University of Stockholm, but the offer was withdrawn after staff protests. Alexandra Veledina, who had recruited Ott to Stockholm, also works in the group of Juri Poutanen, the director of the observatory in Turku., who would have been Ott’s superior.
Räsänen and Sawala, along with 17 colleagues, wrote a letter to the University of Turku leadership expressing their concern over the appointment. Räsänen and Sawala also published a statement against harassment in astronomy, signed by the majority of Finnish astronomers [9]. Referring to the response of the scientific community, the University of Turku cancelled the appointment [10].
Juri Poutanen acted as a witness for the prosecution in the trial. In emails shown in court, he had told Räsänen: “In my view there is no evidence” that Ott harassed anyone. When presented with Caltech’s findings in court, he responded that ”it really makes no difference what happened at Caltech".
Poutanen also commented that only one of his staff had expressed concerns to him. Documents and testimony in court showed that several other astronomers at the University of Turku had reported their concerns to the rector, the university leadership, and to their trade union. The staff member who had spoken to Poutanen became the subject of a police investigation after Ott filed a criminal complaint, alleging they spoke to the press about the matter. They were ultimately not charged.
The prosecutor claimed that Sawala and Räsänen’s statements about Ott’s conduct violated privacy, in part because Caltech is a private institution. The prosecutor also alleged that the defendants’ writings were defamatory, arguing that being guilty of harassment implies being guilty of a crime, of which Ott has never been charged. The prosecutor also argued that because Ott’s actions had not involved physical contact, they did not constitute sexual harassment. Ott’s lawyers claimed that the defendants had repeated false claims from a “gossip website”.
Räsänen and Sawala argued that they were speaking about a matter of professional concern in their own scientific field, a protected category of speech under Finnish defamation law [11]. They also argued that the facts of the case were widely known and reported by many credible sources, including Caltech’s own public statements and the world’s premier scientific journals.
In the verdict, the court concluded that Räsänen and Sawala had spoken about a matter of public interest, based their statements on credible sources, and had not disseminated information they didn’t have good reason to consider true. As such, the violation of privacy and defamation charges were both dismissed.
As grounds for the financial compensation, Ott stated that the sum of €50,000 was a “token”, intended “to hurt, but not bankrupt the respondents”. He asked for a further €10,000 in damages. Ott’s financial claims were dismissed along with the criminal charges. Ott also appeared to dispute the findings of Caltech’s investigation, calling it a “kangaroo court”. According to Ott, the investigation started after “an activist got involved and urged the student to file a complaint”. Caltech has stood by its process and findings. A 2019 investigation by NASA and the National Science Foundation found that Caltech followed the appropriate procedures in its Title IX investigation [11].
Contact
Syksy Räsänen, syksy.rasanen@helsinki.fi
Till Sawala, till.sawala@helsinki.fi
Links
Blog entries on the case by Syksy Räsänen
https://www.ursa.fi/blogi/kosmokseen-kirjoitettua/myos-me-kierros-3-we-too-round-3/
https://www.ursa.fi/blogi/kosmokseen-kirjoitettua/myos-me-taas-we-too-again/
https://www.ursa.fi/blogi/kosmokseen-kirjoitettua/myos-meus-too/
Sources referenced in the text
[1] https://www.hs.fi/kotimaa/turku/art-2000009199455.html
[2] https://www.nature.com/articles/nature.2016.19153
[3] https://www.nature.com/articles/529255a
[4] https://www.science.org/content/article/caltech-suspends-professor-harassment
[5] https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/azeenghorayshi/ott-harassment-investigation
[7] https://www.utu.fi/en/news/news/recruitment-of-christian-ott-to-the-university-of-turku
[8] https://blogs.helsinki.fi/sawala/statement-by-finnish-astronomers-and-astrophysicists-on-harassment/
[9] https://www.utu.fi/en/news/news/university-of-turku-cancels-the-employment-contract-of-christian-ott
[10] https://finlex.fi/en/laki/kaannokset/1889/en18890039_20150766.pdf
[11] https://www.nsf.gov/od/oecr/reports/Caltech_Title_IX_Report.pdf