There was a special atmosphere in the courtroom when the judges rejected the case against the former lawyer Bengt Waldow. Waldow was prosecuted for reckless behavior after hanging up two posters where he “wanted” the two top police officers Geir Evanger and Jan Erik Bresil. Bresil and Evanger are both involved in the drug policy association Norwegian Narcotics Police Association (NNPF) as chairman and deputy chairman of the board respectively. These posters Waldow was charged with hanging up. Photo: Bengt Waldow A report recently established that the justice sector has formed too close ties with the political association. The public prosecutor who brought the indictment is also a member of the NNPF. The district court therefore considered that she is incompetent, and dismissed the case. – It was stated by the defender that the case was not sufficiently disclosed, and to that extent we have also seen that ourselves. So the status now is that it is under investigation, says prosecutor Eirik Tinglum Skøyeneie to news. – Little in-depth work On both posters, you could use QR codes to access websites about the Role Understanding Committee, and about operation HUNGER. However, these were not checked by the police, something defender Jon Wessel-Aas pointed out in court. Defending Jon Wessel Aas in court in January. Photo: Julia Thommessen / news The debate about the association and drug policy has raged for several years, and Evanger and Bresil have been clear voices in this debate. The QR codes put the posters into that context, believed the defender. – Either it’s just an accident at work or a little thorough work. Or it could perhaps be a sign for the general public that here they have not been interested in looking at things that speak in his favor, that put the statement in the right context, said Wessel-Aas in court. Now the police will therefore check out the QR codes, and take other investigative steps they believe may be relevant to better inform the case, according to prosecutor Skøyneie. – Why didn’t they check the QR codes? – That is a question I cannot answer. The reason for this is probably that people simply did not think to examine these QR codes. That is something we will look at now. – Is it something you should have thought about? – Yes, you could say that one should have thought of that. There are many potential investigative steps in any case, and you do not necessarily carry out every imaginable investigation, but do what you consider to be relevant and applicable for the information of the case. – Here it has been thought that the case had been sufficiently disclosed, and then it has subsequently been considered that it is necessary to investigate further. Have checked the integrity of the police Defender Wessel-Aas says he is not surprised that the police will now investigate the case further. Defending Jon Wessel Aas in court in January. Photo: Julia Thommessen / news He points out that already in December he questioned the fact that the police had not checked the QR codes in December 2022. – Of course, you cannot assess punishment for a statement without first seeing the entire statement. I expect that when the police now do the work that was not done last time, the prosecution will see that this is obviously criticism of power in a satirical form, which has particularly strong protection under the Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights. I therefore expect the case to be dismissed, he says to news. In the ruling from the district court, the QR codes were highlighted in the assessment of whether the public prosecutor was incompetent or not. – The case was rejected because the court believed that the public prosecutor was incompetent. Have the police carried out competency assessments? – Yes, we have assessed our competence in this case. – And you think that all the people involved in the investigation are competent? – We consider everyone to be capable, yes. Investigators and prosecution are skilled in considering the parties in the case and the interests that the case affects. – No one is a member of the NNPF? – No, not known to me anyway.
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Police resume investigation of NNPF posters – news Norway – Overview of news from various parts of the country
