– I am a little disappointed that the defense is going to that step, says assistance lawyer Morten Kjensli, who represents the aggrieved Kevin Simensen from the Kongsberg case. – It seems like a reasonably poorly thought-out move on their part. An attempt to influence public opinion which I don’t think is appropriate, he says. Pointing to weapons and fraud The incident happened in October last year, but first received a lot of attention and created a lot of debate when the surveillance video became known in April this year. When more details emerged during the trial, he was acquitted. Now it looks like he will have to go through a new trial next year. But Advokatfirmaet Elden, which represents the policeman, wants to stop it. They sent out a press release today. There they refer to “information in the media that several weapons and explosives have been seized from the victim’s home, and he has been charged in a serious fraud case”. – The victim’s relationship with weapons is important for the decision, and to substantiate that the district court’s majority is right. If the appeal is not withdrawn as a result of the new information, we will return to these topics in the Court of Appeal, says lawyer Heidi Reisvang. Kjensli says he strongly disagrees, and feels it is completely irrelevant in relation to the indictment in the violence case against the policeman. Lawyer Morten Kjensli during the trial in Buskerud district court in Kongsberg. Photo: Terje Bendiksby / NTB – He is charged with fraud that has nothing to do with this. And the case referred to with the confiscation of weapons and explosives, he has been questioned as a witness and has never been charged for it in any way, nor a suspect, says Kjensli. Bank fraud Politiforum has written several cases about victims in the Kongsberg case. According to them, the total amount in the fraud case, where several have been charged, is between NOK 2.5 and 3 million. In the time period from mid-June to mid-August this year, the money has gone astray through a large-scale fraud against the bank Nordea, writes Politiforum. Kjensli tells news that the charge against his client is NOK 416,000. He denies criminal guilt for this and has not yet been questioned. In any case, Kjensli believes this has little to say about the case in which Simensen is offended. – I find it completely irrelevant in relation to the indictment that exists in the case of violence against the policeman, says Kjensli. The Attorney General appealed This summer, the policeman was acquitted on all counts of having used violence against two victims at a petrol station in Kongsberg. He was charged with excessive use of force. The court believed that the use of force was within what police officers can allow themselves. But in July the Attorney General decided to appeal the verdict to the Court of Appeal, and on Tuesday the Court of Appeal decided that there will be an appeal. On the night of 22 October, Kevin Simensen was put to the ground by several police officers in Kongsberg. The Court of Appeal does not give concrete reasons for why the case should be heard again, but the district court was divided when the policeman was acquitted. One of the co-judges believed that the police officer acted in violation of Section 6 of the Police Act, which states that the police’s duties must be completed without using stronger means of force than is necessary.
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