Johny Vassbakk, who was charged with the murder of Birgitte Tengs (17) in 1995, was acquitted this week. The police and prosecutors were reprimanded by the judge, as they have also been after her cousin was acquitted of the murder in 1998.
Together with lawyer Erik Lea, Elden has been legal counsel for Tengs’ parents. The experienced lawyer says that, paradoxically, it has been the next of kin who have not pre-judged or made their own assessment of the evidence before the court could consider the case.
– In principle, a judicial murder can never be rectified by calling for another judicial murder, as some actors both in the author’s world and in the cousin’s legal team have been out in public and advocated, Elden tells NTB.
Warns against prejudgment
A new round is expected in the Baneheia case after Viggo Kristiansen was acquitted. Jan Helge Andersen is now charged with the murder of Lena Sløgedal Paulsen (10) in Baneheia in 2000. He has previously been convicted of the murder of Stine Sofie Sørstrønen (8).
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– The next case with the same dynamics will probably be the Baneheia case against Andersen, unless the media have learned something from the Birgitte case, says Elden.
The Attorney General has not yet decided whether a new indictment will be issued against Andersen, but the trial is scheduled to start in Sør-Rogaland District Court on 15 April next year.
– From the outside, too, one sees a strong tendency towards both leaks against Andersen and arguments from people around Viggo who will make us readers pre-judge in order to, in a way, get the crown. And here, too, it is Viggo himself who is tidy and content to point out his own innocence, without publicly pre-judging Andersen, says Elden.
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Elden himself has not been involved on any side in the Baneheia case.
– Uncritical microphone stand
After the acquittal in the Court of Appeal came on Tuesday, the cousin’s father said it was a victory for the rule of law.
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– The tidy one here is actually the cousin’s father, Jakob, says Elden.
He points out that Tengs’ parents had doubts and that it was therefore out of the question for them to bring forward a compensation claim now if the evidence did not support a criminal conviction. In 1998, the cousin was acquitted, but sentenced to pay compensation – a sentence that was later overturned.
– The media has uncritically given a microphone stand to those who criticized Birgitte’s mother in particular for not realizing that Vassbakk was guilty and us as lawyers who failed to explain it to her, says Elden.
2023-12-09 08:41:09
#Warns #press
