ILA PRISON (VG) On Tuesday night, the 42-year-old was picked up from Ila prison and detention center in his father’s car. On the way out, he received applause from his former fellow prisoners.
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After almost 21 years within the walls, Viggo Kristiansenen is a free man again.
Tuesday at At 22.53 he drove out of the prison gates at Ila prison in his father’s car, wearing a cap with a red brim.
On the way out you could see Kristiansen waving from the inside of the car, to the sound of applause and shouts from the prisoners inside. It was all over in under ten minutes.
– We have no big plans other than to have two coffee cups in the car and a normal drive home, said father Svein Kristiansen above The Friend of the Fatherland earlier on Tuesday.
In 2002, Kristiansen and his former comrade Jan Helge Andersen were convicted of raping and killing Lena Sløgedal Paulsen (10) and Stine Sofie Sørstrønen (8) in Baneheia.
He has always claimed his innocence, and in February 2021, the Readmission Commission decided that the criminal case shall be re-examined.
On Tuesday, it was decided by a unanimous Supreme Court that Kristiansen is released with immediate effect.
The Appeals Committee pointed out that the prosecuting authority has said that they will not ask for the detention to be extended, and this means that Kristiansen will in any case be released shortly because he has served 21 years.
VG has previously reported that Kristiansen released from Ila prison on the same day as the decision became known.
– We received the message quite early from the Supreme Court that he was released, and we could thus start by helping Kristiansen unpack and such. We have no wish to have him another night in prison after he is released, said assistant prison manager at Ila, Gøran Nilsson, to VG.
RELEASED: Viggo Kristiansen was taken out of Ila prison on Tuesday, after almost 21 years behind the walls. Photo: Heiko Junge, NTB
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Moves to the parents
In the next few days, several people in the support apparatus around Kristiansen will have meetings with the 42-year-old, where they will have conversations about the way forward.
– We will make a plan for how the near future will be. We will listen to what Viggo says and wants, says Terje Helland, contact person for Kristiansen’s support group.
In a report issued by two forensic psychiatric experts in March this year, however, it appears that Kristiansen has few plans for the future.
– When it is thematized, he mainly expresses that he will manage on his own, the report states.
The closest they come to concrete plans is that he wants to settle inland in Agder, near his parents, the experts write. According to the report, Kristiansen has some vague plans if he is acquitted:
– He will first be quiet for a while, he can live with his parents until he hopefully manages to get his own home and a job, and he is not dependent on living in Kristiansand, the report states.
