It must be fair to say that the decision from the Buskerud district court came as a surprise to many. The policeman accused of violence was acquitted, and the majority in court believe he cannot be blamed for anything he did on the dramatic October evening last autumn. On the contrary, two out of three judges believe that the offended Kevin Simensen has himself to thank for the situation escalating as it did. The court believes that Simensen should have understood that it was a policeman who tried to arrest him, and that it was the massive resistance that caused the whole thing to get out of control. The core of the case has been whether the policeman “went far outside the limits of what society can accept”, as the Bureau has argued. Or if he was “just doing his job”, as the defenders have claimed. The majority in the district court landed on the latter. The surveillance images from the petrol station look brutal, and the impression is reinforced by the policeman hitting the victim repeatedly with a clenched fist. Batons and pepper spray are also used. The judges believe that the use of force was justifiable, and that it was within what the Supreme Court has previously allowed. Put another way, the court believes that the policeman acted in line with the law and police instructions, and that he must therefore be acquitted. The acquittal is still a hair’s breadth. The court has therefore divided into a majority and a minority. In addition, the majority in the judgment says that the result is “under some doubt”. The judges are also open to the fact that many of the assessments are based on discretion. A panel of judges in the Court of Appeal can quickly come to the opposite result. Thus, there are many indications that the case will be appealed. Since it was the Attorney General who ordered prosecution for serious violence, it is also likely that the country’s highest prosecuting authority will have its say on the appeal issue. Another argument for an appeal is the judgment’s principled aspects. Aid attorney Morten Kjensli is right that the verdict gives the police a big slap in the arm when it comes to how they should behave when they go to arrest. There are no comparable cases in this country, and then the question is whether a higher court should not draw up these limits. Several legal experts predicted in advance that the case would end up in the Supreme Court, and the result from the district court is no less likely. Then, of course, the acquitted policeman is entitled to be regarded as innocent until proven otherwise. It will be interesting to see what the chief of police and the employment council in the South-East police district now do next. The police officer was suspended when the indictment came, but can this be maintained now that acquittal is on the table? It will presumably take time to frame an appeal case, if it is appealed and the Court of Appeal lets it through for consideration. Will it then be right to keep the police officer off duty until a legally binding sentence is issued? Or are his actions so brutal anyway that he is unfit for operational police duty? The questions are many, and it seems fairly clear that we have not yet received all the answers.
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The verdict is unlikely to stand – Statement
