– I want to ask the Borgarting Court of Appeal to acquit Viggo Kristiansen. Attorney General Jørn Sigurd Maurud said that earlier today. After a series of treatments at the Re-admission Commission and 18 months of new investigation, Maurud had no doubts: – I would therefore, on behalf of the prosecution, strongly apologize for the injustice that has been committed. Now a final round in the Norwegian legal system awaits Viggo Kristiansen. All but acquitted It is up to the Borgarting Court of Appeal to make a final judgment in the case, but Kristiansen is, according to the Attorney General’s press conference, all but acquitted. It is up to the judge whether the case should be decided in a court session or in a so-called office transaction, where everything is done in writing. – There is something the preparatory judge will discuss with the parties as soon as the case has been received, says acting first-instance judge Eirik Akerlie in Borgarting to news. He emphasizes that the main rule of the law is that a court hearing must be held. This is the Baneheia case * Stine Sofie Sørstrønen (8) and Lena Sløgedal Paulsen (10) were raped and killed in Baneheia in Kristiansand on 19 May 2000. They were found two days later. * Viggo Kristiansen and Jan Helge Andersen were sentenced respectively to 21 years’ detention (10 years’ minimum) and 19 years’ imprisonment for the rape and murder of the two girls. * Andersen confessed – Kristiansen has always claimed that he is innocent * The commission for resumption of criminal cases had the case on its table for the seventh time in the summer of 2017. * In February 2021, the commission decided that Viggo Kristiansen will have a new trial of the criminal case. Arvid Sjødin, lawyer for Kristiansen, says his client will appear at a possible meeting. – It is to get a proper conclusion to this matter. He wants to end it properly, says Sjødin to news. He does not think Kristiansen will use the court hearing as an arena to make a statement, but that he will still be present in court. Legal aid lawyer: – Naturally with a court hearing The legal aid lawyer for Lena and Stine Sofie’s parents, Audun Beckstrøm, tells news that it is natural that the case ends in a legal hearing. – I have not discussed this with the parents as of now, but I would like to think that it is natural to have a court hearing – that in this very serious matter you do not end up with a mere paper exercise in court. When news talks to Attorney General Maurud on Friday evening, he also says that it seems natural that the Court of Appeal goes for a hearing. Especially because Kristiansen is still to be sentenced for another assault on a young girl, which he has admitted. It concerns several gross assaults against a seven-year-old girl in the period 1994 to 1996, as well as assaults against a young boy. He was acquitted of the assault on the boy, since he was under the legal minimum age when it happened. He was nevertheless sentenced to pay compensation to the boy. – Here a new sentence must be meted out for the abuses he has admitted and been convicted of. That sentence has long since been served, says Maurud. Unlikely with written processing Lawyer Erik Keiserud thinks office business is unlikely: – I would be surprised if the end of this case is only marked in the form of written processing. He is a former leader of the Swedish Bar Association and has extensive experience in criminal law. – The Attorney General thinks it is so obvious what the result will be here, that he considers a court hearing unnecessary, Keiserud believes. First team member Akerlie agrees with Keiserud. – Unless someone manages to see that there is reason for an exception, then a court hearing will have to be the procedure, he says.
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Viggo Kristiansen will appear in court again – news Norway – Overview of news from various parts of the country
