A Helsinki couple has been fined by the District Court for allowing their baby son to be circumcised. The procedure was undertaken by a British Rabbi at the base of the Helsinki Jewish Congregation in 2008 where the one-week-old child received the traditional bris without any anaesthetic. Both parents were present at the ceremony, as was the boy’s grandfather who held him throughout.

The infant was later hospitalised after the bleeding failed to stop. The Rabbi had performed an examination of the child in the morning following the operation but assured the parents that the child was in no danger.

The complications that arose from the ongoing bleeding could have been averted had the circumcision been performed at a hospital according to expert witness Dr Harry Lindahl. The parents insist that not only was the rabbi reputable but that Finnish law does not prohibit circumcision as a religious obligation. The prosecution however, filed charges of aggravated assault or inciting aggravated assault, as the Helsingin Sanomat reports.

The Helsinki District Court declared that the parents were not guilty of inciting assault as they did not participate in the actual operation. They also deemed that the Penal Code could not define the instrument used in the operation as a weapon. The parents have been ordered to pay their infant son compensation of EUR 1,500 (USD 2,000) for his pain and suffering, as well as a 40-day suspended prison sentence.