Norwegian artist confronts rape defendant and posts video online, defendant’s defender calls it “completely unacceptable”

The artist followed, confronted and filmed a rape suspect and posted it to his followers on social media. – Completely unacceptable, says the defendant’s defender.

Five men in their 20s are currently appearing in Hordaland District Court on charges of a total of three rape cases. The trial has been paused twice because the names of the accused men and offended women have been shared publicly.

On Saturday it happened again. A Norwegian artist followed one of the defendants, filmed and posted it in a video on social media. VG has seen the video.

The man who was confronted is not charged with gang rape, but with sexual intercourse with a minor and sleep rape of a woman in her 20s. He denies criminal guilt for both matters.

The video was filmed inside a kiosk. In the video, the artist is seen seeking out what is supposed to be one of the defendants and calling for him.

The video shows that there are several spectators to the incident inside the kiosk. In the video you can see what is supposed to be the defendant trying to run away from the artist while the artist tries to talk to him.

The artist names the defendant in the video both verbally and in text.

Bergens Tidende mentioned the matter first.

VG has contacted the artist directly and the artist’s management for a comment, but has not received a reply on Sunday afternoon.

Reviewed the artist

The defendant’s lawyer reacts strongly to the artist’s performance. She says that the relationship has been reported.

– I think this is completely unacceptable. My client has been stalked and filmed on social media, says lawyer Ellen Eikeseth Mjøs to VG.

– My client takes this very seriously. This is going to be a complete mess. We have reported the artist for reckless behaviour, under section 266 of the Criminal Code.

Police attorney Ole Vallestad Emmerhoff confirms opposite BA that the matter has been reported to the police.

Mjøs is clear that it is the legal system that must decide guilt and innocence in criminal cases. This is harmful for the whole case and all those involved, Mjøs believes.

– That legal system must be allowed to work. It doesn’t when it’s supposed to be this way.

Have received several reviews

The ongoing trial has already received a lot of attention.

One of the other defendants in the case complex has himself mentioned the case in his own channels on social media, and in other people’s comments.

Many in the comment section have reacted to how the defendant has spoken about the case. The man’s defender, Ivar Frostad, had no comment on this on Thursday.

On Monday, an outsider appeared in court and, among other things, filmed the list of names in the indictment, according to the report Bergens Tidende. The man has posted videos and commented on the case on social media. One of these videos had been viewed over half a million times on Wednesday.

The spread of videos from the court led to the trial being paused twice.

On Thursday, the police had received a total of four reports in total regarding the spread of information from the case online. The police have opened a case on filming in the courtroom.

This is the case:

• Five men in their 20s have been charged with multiple assaults.
• Three men are charged with the gang rape of a woman in her 20s. The incident must have taken place in 2021.
• One of these three, together with two other men, is charged with sexual intercourse with children between the ages of 14 and 16, in 2020.
• One of these again, a 25-year-old man, is accused of sleeping rape by a third woman.
• After the indictment was withdrawn, a new woman reported one of the men for a rape that should have happened in the summer of 2018.