Espen Andersen Bråthen petitions to be released – news Norway – Overview of news from various parts of the country

On 16 January, the Buskerud district court will decide whether Bråthen is healthy enough to be released. He was sentenced to compulsory mental health care in the summer of 2022, and has since lived in a psychiatric institution for the murders of five random people on 13 October 2021. – He believes the conditions are no longer met, says Bråthen’s defender, lawyer Fredrik Neumann, to Drammens Tidende. Insane The court psychiatrists believe he has a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia, and that he was therefore insane at the time of the crime. Compulsory mental health care is not a time-limited response, and can only be maintained if there is no risk of recurrence. Bråthen believes that there is no longer any danger that he will commit new criminal offences. The prosecution opposes the release of Bråthen. – We assess it so that the conditions are still present, and see no change since the verdict was handed down, says state attorney Andreas Christiansen to DT. Judgment on transfer to compulsory mental health care When someone is sentenced to compulsory mental health care, the mental health care is obliged to take over responsibility for the convicted person. It is a condition that the perpetrator was insane at the time of the act, that there is a risk of repetition and that the reaction must be considered necessary to protect society. The court or the prosecuting authority has no influence on which treatment is to be used. They are only involved in questions about the establishment, termination and extension of the reaction. Source: Norwegian Directorate of Health



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