Norwegian Court Rules MC Club Satudarah Can Continue Operating in Norway Despite Attempts to Ban Them

The MC club Satudarah had to appear in court at the end of March, after the state attorney and the police wanted to ban them in Norway.

The police believe the main purpose of the club is to engage in crime, not motorcycles. Therefore, the new law that allows for the prohibition of criminal associations was tried in court for the first time.

– We believe that Satudarah MC is a criminal gang, which with regard to structure and fear capital and history of violence may be affected by the new provisions in the Criminal Procedure Act, state prosecutor Ingelin Hauge told NRK in January this year.

The Oslo District Court disagrees, and today issued a ruling that allows the club to continue to be in Norway.

The court believes that it is not necessary to ban the MC club in order to prevent serious crime.

In the ruling, the court writes that weighty reasons are required to ban a group.

According to the MC club’s lawyer Usama Ahmad, the members of Satudarah are very happy with that.

– I’m guessing there will be quite a bit of celebration all around. They are very happy, he says.

Ahmad believes the sentence is both right and brave.

– It is brave because we have experienced that there has been pressure from the prosecution on matters which we believe should not be important. That the association does not have the right interests in relation to MC is one example, explains Ahmad.

It has been claimed that there is a reason to ban the club.

– A wise and well-balanced decision, says lawyer John Christian Elden of Elden Advokatfirma who, together with lawyer Usama Ahmad, assisted Satudarah in the district court.

The court emphasized that the club has not existed for very long and does not appear to be well established. There are currently only a small number of offenses that can be linked to the MC club, writes the court.

The court also writes that a possible ban would be very intrusive for many of the members. Several of them have a pronounced strong connection to the club and a lot of identity linked to their interest in motorcycles.

This is even though several of the members have neither a motorcycle nor a motorcycle badge.

Wanted a ban

The public prosecutor said in court that she believed it was important to ban the club to prevent crime.

– We believe Satudarah’s primary purpose is to appear intimidating and achieve fear capital in a criminal environment. Parallel to that, they may like motorbikes, shared dinners and coffee meetings. But most of the members do not have a motorcycle or the MC sticker, she said in her procedure.

The police believe Satudarah has shown the will and ability to commit violence and serious offences.

– There are drug crimes, violent crimes, extortion and kidnapping. Things that create fear in society, the head of Special Operations in the Oslo police, Anders Rasch-Olsen, told NRK.

completely disagree

The club’s lawyer, Usama Ahmad, completely disagrees with the premise of the case and believes there is no basis for banning the MC club.

– Dsomething that is important for me to bring out is that Satudarah MC has never engaged in crime. We do not believe that individual members have engaged in criminal activity on the basis of their membership in the club. Many have a criminal record that goes back a long way, and it has not been changed by membership. Some have never committed a crime, while some have not committed criminal offenses after becoming members, he has previously told NRK.