– It is time for the case to come before the court, and they see this as an attack on democracy. We are going to argue that a sentence must be passed for attempted murder, John Christian Elden tells Dagbladet.
Elden is legal counsel for five members of Stop Islamisaringen av Norge (SIAN). The five – including leader Lars Thorsen – were in Thorsen’s car when it rolled around after being hit by a car with two women on the E6 south of Oslo on July 2, 2022.
OVERturned: A video filmed by the group “Alternative Media”, shows the moment the car of SIAN leader Lars Thorsen overturns on the E6 at Mortensrud in Oslo, after being pushed by another car. Video: Alternative Media / Dagbladet TV Show more
The high-profile SIAN member Fanny Bråten suffered a broken back in the rollover, while the other four suffered minor injuries.
No explanation
The gray passenger car with the women belonged to the passenger in his late 40s. Her defender Morten Furuholmen states that she denies criminal guilt.
– She is happy that the case is now coming up, and looks forward to having the case assessed, says the lawyer to Dagbladet.
A woman in her 20s was behind the wheel of the car. It is not known how she reacts to the question of guilt, and her defender Nils Christian Nordhus does not want to comment before the trial starts next week.
DRAMATICALLY: Dramatic images from inside the car that crashed into the SIAN car. view more
– This is because my client has not previously given a statement to the police after she was taken into custody. In this situation, it is most natural that she answers the court before she answers the press, Nordhus explains to Dagbladet.
“Yes, yes, it’s going well”
The incident happened immediately after the SIAN activists had burned a Koran on Mortensrud, a neighborhood with many immigrants. The burning was one of several in Oslo that day, organized by the activists.
Video evidence is central to the case. Both the activist group “Alternative Media” and the passenger in the car with the women filmed large parts of the sequence of events:
– Absolutely awful
When the SIAN members leave Mortensrud after the Koran burning, the two women get on their wheels and follow Thorsen’s camouflage-coloured car out on the E6 towards the center of Oslo.
In the car with the women, the driver is heard saying: “Your whole car is going to be destroyed now”, to which the passenger replies: “Yes, yes, it’s fine” – before the two cars collide, and the passenger shouts “Yes!”. As Thorsen’s car rolls around, a man in the Alternativ Media car is heard shouting “attempted murder!”, before he rushes over to help the SIAN members.
Rushed
According to the indictment, the passenger incited the driver by shouting “hit them” or similar. A separate indictment is devoted to the fact that the driver, in his 20s, at one point stopped in front of the SIAN car on the side of the road, and got out with a knife in his hand.
DAMAGE: The high-profile SIAN member Fanny Bråten suffered a broken back in the collision. Here from a marking in front of the Storting in 2020. Just behind her SIAN founder Arne Tumyr (1933-2023), behind to the right current SIAN leader Lars Thorsen. Photo: Geir Olsen / NTB Show more
Another point is that she drove the car under the influence of the sedative zolpidem, known in Norway under the pharmaceutical name Stilnoct. She didn’t have a driver’s license either.
The main point in the indictment is grievous bodily harm, according to Section 274 of the Criminal Code. Both women risk prison terms of up to 15 years, and documentation of Bråten’s injuries is expected to be central to the evidence.
The aggrieved SIAN activists are unhappy that the charges are for grievous bodily harm and not attempted murder.
SIAN is not worth the violence
– Three collisions in a row, where the last one at at least 60 km/h was a torpedoing, combined with drunk driving and knife threats, makes it difficult to imagine why there are not five attempted murders, assistant attorney Elden has previously stated to Document.no.
– Random
The passenger in the gray passenger car has explained that she and her friend accidentally ended up in the Koran burning on Mortensrud.
– We register that an attempt is being made to paint a picture of an extreme Muslim act here. That is absolutely not true – none of them have a strong Muslim identity, says her defender Furuholmen to Dagbladet.
The investigation into the case took a relatively long time, as the incident took place in the middle of the summer holidays. In addition, it has taken almost eleven months from the indictment being ready until the case comes to court.
The trial is scheduled for Oslo District Court over three days, starting on Tuesday.
2024-01-08 20:03:25
#Attack #democracy
