“Viggo Kristiansen speaks out on government investigation into Baneheia case”

I podkasten “Year examines Baneheia”with journalist and author Bjørn Olav Jahr, Viggo Kristiansen tells for the first time his expectations of the government-appointed committee that will investigate the Baneheia case.

– Can’t accept that they won’t clean up

Kristiansen has been acquitted of the brutal assaults and murders of ten-year-old Lena Sløgedal Paulsen and eight-year-old Stine Sofie Sørstrønen in Baneheia in Kristiansand on 19 May 2000. Kristiansen served over 20 years in prison, and was only acquitted in December last year.

At the same time, investigations have placed his former companion, Jan Helge Andersen, even closer to the crime, through, among other things, DNA findings on both girls.

– In the Baneheia case, the mistakes have been many and serious. Those left behind were led astray, and I myself had to serve an unjust sentence for almost 21 years for horrible crimes I did not commit. I can accept that people make mistakes. I think everyone deserves a second chance. But what I cannot accept is that people who have made mistakes do not want to clean up after themselves, says Kristiansen in the podcast from Svarttrost.

– Hope responsibility is placed where it belongs

The investigative committee must submit its report by the end of 2024. Minister of Justice and Emergency Preparedness Emilie Enger Mehl has previously described their work as “one of the most important societal tasks in the justice sector in our time”.

– I hope the government-appointed investigation will provide answers to what went wrong, that responsibility is placed where it belongs and, not least, that the investigation can contribute to ensuring that other innocents do not have to suffer the same fate as I did, says Viggo Kristiansen.