Zaniar Matapour (44) was arrested by the police shortly after the terrorist attack in central Oslo on the night of 25 June 2022 and has been in custody since. Terror accused Zaniar Matapour after he was arrested by the police. Photo: Private The trial against him is scheduled to start in the Oslo District Court on March 12 and last until May 16. In a preparatory court hearing on 10 January, defense attorney Marius O. Dietrichson argued that the trial should be postponed until after the summer holidays. Defense counsel: – Irresponsible The defense attorney has always been a driving force to get the case resolved quickly, but believes it is unreasonable to start as early as mid-March, according to a decision that news has obtained access to. – Firstly, it is still not possible to carry out confidential conversations with the client in prison, argued Dietrichson. – Until mid-December 2023, it was only possible to speak to the accused through a glass wall with a calling system. This was unsustainable because it turned out that outsiders could overhear the conversations. Zaniar Matapour has recently been locked up in a ward with a particularly high level of security in Ullersmo prison. Responding to camera surveillance The glass wall and later a lattice wall were eventually removed. Now the defenders meet Matapour with an alarm in his belt, and the room is monitored by cameras. Defense attorney Marius O. Dietrichson believes it is unjustifiable to start the trial against terrorist defendant Zaniar Matapour on 12 March. Photo: Gunnar Bratthammer The video is sent directly to the prison officers’ office, without sound. The camera surveillance is done to ensure the defender’s safety, but Dietrichson still believes this is not acceptable. news has been in contact with defender Marius Dietrichson does not wish to comment on this case. Beyond that, he will not comment on this matter. Defendant’s state of health The defense attorney also pointed out that the terrorist accused Matapour sits in deep isolation, and only has access to two hours of activity and ventilation a day. – The defendant’s condition under such conditions is so bad that questions are raised as to whether he will be mentally and physically able to attend the main hearing on March 12, said Dietrichson. The question of whether Zaniar Matapour is criminally sane or not will be one of the central questions that the judges must decide on during the trial. The three forensic psychiatric experts disagree and have reached different conclusions. Two of them believe that Matapour was sane at the time of the act and can therefore be sentenced to prison, while the last expert believes that he has a diagnosis that could lead to insanity. Will put pressure on the E-service The defender is also calling for more information from the Intelligence Service and believes that a postponement of the trial will put pressure on them to hand over more material. – This concerns, among other things, 108 reports about the contact between the E-service and the so-called agent. It is also not satisfactory that neither the “agent” nor the lead officer should testify in the case, Dietrichson believes. The defender believes that the E-service and/or the Norwegian Armed Forces should have been charged in the case, so that they would have to provide information about their involvement. The department head of the guidance officers must explain himself and so must the head of the Intelligence Service, Nils Andreas Stensønes. Will not charge the e-service The prosecutor believed there was no basis for adjourning the trial. The public prosecutor replies that the prosecuting authority initially also wants access to more information from the E-service, but that they have no way of forcing this. – The public prosecutor has no evidence that the e-service has done anything illegal, and no grounds for charging the Defence, the state attorney replies. The prosecution does not believe that a postponement of the case will give them access to more evidence from the E-service. The EOS committee, which supervises the secret services in Norway, concluded earlier this year that the E-service did not provoke the terrorist attack. The leader of the EOS committee, Astri Aas-Hansen, will also testify in the trial. The aggrieved party’s wish Christian Lundin, a legal aid lawyer, says it is important for the aggrieved party to have the case completed. Photo: Ronald Hole Fossåskaret Lawyer Christian Lundin has been appointed as legal aid for 138 people in the case. – It is important for the aggrieved parties to have the case completed as the case is naturally a very heavy burden and that is why I have argued against postponement, Lundin tells news. A total of 269 people have the status of offended in the case. Two men were shot and killed and nine others suffered gunshot wounds when terrorist accused Zaniar Matapour opened fire on the night clubs Per på Hjørnet and London Pub on the night of 25 June 2022. There was Oslo Pride and a lot of people in the area. Matapour fired a total of 19 rounds with a submachine gun and pistol before being overpowered by civilians and held down until police arrived. Several people sitting in the outdoor seating area of the Per på Hjørnet restaurant were hit by the shots. Photo: Camilla Svennæs Bergland / news The case will not be postponed District Judge Eirik Aass writes in the decision that everyone agrees that the defendant has a right to confidential contact with his defense counsel. – The court assumes that the purpose of the camera was to make it possible to quickly discover conditions that could possibly threaten the defender’s safety, and to quickly intervene, writes the judge. But the court does not have sufficient grounds to assess whether such video transmission actually involves a violation of the defendant’s right to confidential communication with his defense counsel. Among other things, it could be influenced by the location of the camera, the decision states. The judge writes that he assumes that the prison will take the defender’s input seriously even now. – The court assumes that this is done quickly, and that solutions will be found that take care of both confidentiality and security. The defendant’s health situation may, depending on the circumstances, lead to an adjournment of the case, the decision states. – However, there is currently no basis for deciding whether the defendant will be too ill to attend the main hearing in mid-March. The court also takes into account information given in the court hearing that efforts are being made to facilitate more ventilation and activity for him in prison, writes the judge. He then concludes that the case will proceed as planned, starting on 12 March.
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Requested that the terrorist case be postponed – news Norway – Overview of news from various parts of the country
