He was not supported in court, but avoided serving time in prison as the prosecutor wanted. The defendant has instead been sentenced to eight months in prison on terms, with a probationary period of two years. The prosecutor submitted a request for a year’s imprisonment without conditions when the trial was concluded in Trøndelag district court two weeks ago. Several reindeer calves were found dead before the incident The three bears were shot in an area in Lierne where several reindeer calves had already been killed by bears. The police announced this shortly after the incident in May last year. The defendant found several dead calves when he was going to see the reindeer herd in the area. He also saw the bears lying down and eating reindeer carcasses when he came to the area. The bear is completely at peace. It is only permitted to shoot bears when there is an ongoing or immediate attack on, for example, domestic reindeer or sheep. The defendant (60) thought that was the case. He had also received a verbal refusal to claim damages from the Norwegian Environment Agency two days before. The bears were shot in a management area for bears where arrangements have been made for the animals to breed. The accused himself reported to the police what he had done. The court considers mitigating circumstances. The majority in the court believes that the risk of damage to the reindeer herding was not much greater than for the bear tribe. But that there were mitigating circumstances which mean that the sentence will be lower. The judgment states: “In the court’s view, the difficult situation that (the defendant, ed., note) was in at the time of the action must be given mitigating weight. He observed that the doe and the cubs were wreaking havoc in the reindeer herd and among calves that had no chance of getting away.” Brynjar Meling asked that the defendant be acquitted. The picture was taken on an earlier occasion. Photo: Håkon Jonassen Norheim / news One of the co-judges thought it was a case of emergency justice and wanted to acquit the accused in accordance with the verdict: “The whole situation was of such a nature that there are “special reasons” which warrant an acquittal. Reference is made to the defendant’s persistent attempts to chase away the bears, the bears and the cubs’ repeated ravages in the reindeer herd, the short time until they again wanted to hunt and kill reindeer and the other circumstances described in the above.” Appeal not decided Prosecutor, police attorney Amund Sand tells news Monday that he is satisfied that the court believes there was no question of duress. If the sentence is to be appealed, it is the public prosecutor who decides on advice from Sand. He has not yet decided what he wants to do. Police attorney Amund Sand is satisfied that the majority in court agrees with him that there was no emergency. Photo: Tariq Alisubh / news
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Avoid serving time in prison after shooting three bears – news Trøndelag
