– If Manshaus is to be acquitted because he was brainwashed in 2019 by ideologues on the far right, all you have to do is roll out the runner for Breivik’s reopening petition, says John Christian Elden to Dagbladet.
– These are the same arguments that were rejected by the court and Breivik himself in his case, as Manshaus also rejected in 2019, he adds.
– Was impressed
Elden is the legal representative for the members of the Al-Noor mosque who were offended after Philip Manshaus’s terrorist attack on the house of worship on 10 August 2019. He is reacting to the fact that a new expert report concludes that Manshaus was psychotic and thus criminally insane during the action, as The online newspaper and VG previously mentioned.
CRITICAL: John Christian Elden, lawyer for the victims of the Al-Noor mosque. Photo: Lars Eivind Bones / Dagbladet Show more
26-year-old Manshaus’ defender Unni Fries announced last March that she would request the client’s case to be reopened, on the basis of his alleged psychosis and insanity. At this point, Manshaus had been hospitalized for a period of time in a psychiatric hospital.
– He is very seriously ill, she told Dagbladet then.
– I believe there is reason to believe that Manshaus was ill with psychosis, possibly for a long period before 2019. I believe he was characterized by delusions throughout the trial and for quite some time afterward. The new experts also think so, says Fries to Dagbladet now.
– Nothing new
In mid-February, the re-admission commission for criminal cases received the new expert report, written by a psychological specialist and a psychiatrist. It thus comes to a completely different conclusion than the report that was presented during the trial.
– The report contains further evidence that strengthens the reopening request, says Fries.
KILLED BY HIS BROTHER: Johanne Ihle-Hansen (17) was shot and killed by his brother Philip Manshaus in his own bedroom. The motive was racism. Photo: Christian Roth Christensen / Dagbladet Show more
Legal aid attorney Elden doubts that the new report will lead to a reinstatement case as simple as Fries outlines.
– It contains nothing new about the situation in 2019, but a new assessment from two new experts of the same fact. It does not necessarily lead to a new case, he notes, and continues:
– Before new steps are taken here, the four former forensic psychiatrists who have dealt with the case must be given the opportunity to comment on the new declaration.
Elden also proposes to appoint two new experts to assess the report, in addition to or instead of the original ones.
The deadly hatred
Dagbladet is aware that state attorney Johan Øverberg, who was the prosecutor during the criminal case, supports Elden’s demand that the experts from that time, and/or newly appointed experts, be given the opportunity to assess the new report.
However, Øverberg does not wish to comment on the resumption process to Dagbladet now.
Overpowered
When 21-year-old Philip Manshaus shot and killed his Chinese-born sister Johanne Ihle-Hansen (17) in the family home at Eiksmarka in Bærum on the afternoon of 10 August 2019 – racism was the motive. He then drove the approximately 15 kilometers to Skui and the Al-Noor Mosque.
The aim was to kill as many Muslims as possible, following the pattern of the New Zealand terrorist Brenton Tarrant, who killed 51 people in a live-streamed mass murder in March of the same year.
IN THE COURT: Manshaus during a detention meeting in November 2019, flanked by his defenders Audun Beckstrøm and Unni Fries. Photo: Hans Arne Vedlog / Dagbladet Show more
Manshaus shot the glass door of the mosque to pieces, before entering the building armed with a hunting rifle and a shotgun. But instead of succeeding in the mass murder, he was overpowered and shamed by a 65-year-old veteran of the Pakistan Air Force.
During the trial in the summer of the following year, Manshaus was sentenced to the most severe sentence in history in Norway – 21 years detention with a minimum term of 14 years.
Shockingly enough, defender Fries argued that the client was criminally insane at the time of the crime, against his will. However, the court relied on the experts, who found him sane.
No doubt
Manshaus was examined by a total of four experts between the terrorist attack and the trial: a psychological specialist who carried out a so-called preliminary examination, and a further three – two psychiatrists and a psychological specialist – who carried out a full judicial examination.
JUDGED: Philip Manshaus is sentenced to 21 years in custody with a minimum term of 14 years. Video: NTB Show more
The latter three concluded in their report that they had no doubt that the young terrorist was sane at the time of the crime. The report was quality assured by the Forensic Commission and then presented in the district court.
When Elden singles out Anders Behring Breivik, it is because the question of sanity was central to the trial against the 22 July terrorist:
Two different pairs of experts came to different conclusions about this, and the terrorist was ultimately found sane at the time of the crime and sentenced to 21 years in custody with a minimum term of 10 years.
The punishment for terrorism was later extended, hence Manshaus’s longer sentence.
Can end up in the healthcare system
In the two Norwegian terror cases, a salient point was whether the defendant’s extreme political ideas were the result of mental illness. Like the court, both Breivik and Manshaus rejected this.
– COMPARABLE: If Manshaus and Fries win with the insanity claim, potential terrorist Anders Behring Breivik can bet on the same race, Elden believes. Here in court in January with the legal team Øystein Storrvik and Marte Lindholm. Photo: Lars Eivind Bones / Dagbladet Show more
If the Manshaus case is reopened due to the new expert report, and Fries this time wins with the client being insane, the murderer and terrorist will be transferred to the health care system, under compulsory mental health care instead of prison.
Elden believes this is directly transferable to Breivik, who is fighting to be released on parole; in 2022 he was refused in court, but a new trial is scheduled for the summer.
Manshaus’s defender Fries believes the legal aid lawyer is on the wrong track when he compares her client’s case with Breivik’s.
– I cannot see that that case is relevant to our case; it is an individual assessment, and Breivik has not requested reopening on the basis that he must be insane, she tells Dagbladet.
SHOT TO PIECES: The glass door of the Al-Noor Mosque after Manshaus shot it to pieces. Photo: Frank Karlsen / Dagbladet Show more
The lawyer adds:
– The 22 July case is best suited to show how discretionary and difficult a forensic psychiatric assessment is.
– Not necessary
Fries is also puzzled by Elden’s demand to allow the original experts, and/or newly appointed experts, to assess the new report on Manshaus:
– In my view, it is not necessary for [gjenopptakelses]the commission to obtain additional experts to decide the reopening issue, she says.
The next meeting of the commission will take place in the middle of this month. It is uncertain whether the Manshaus case will have time to be processed on this; the parties had until 28 February to submit comments to the expert report.
2024-03-06 22:18:45
#rolling #Breivik
