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CRIME

Norway double murder: Victim wanted to leave husband

The woman who was shot and killed along with her 12-year-old son in Kirkenes was in the process of leaving her husband, according to media reports.

Published: 30 August 2016 09:02 CEST
Norway double murder: Victim wanted to leave husband
A makeshift memorial established for the victims. Photo: Ole-Tommy Pedersen / Finnmarken / NTB scanpix
The 37-year-old woman and her son, who were both Thai nationals, were found severely injured in a Kirkenes residence shortly before 5am on Monday. Both died from their wounds shortly thereafter. 
 
The woman’s 59-year-old husband was also severely injured in the incident. He was brought to hospital in Tromsø by air ambulance and is now facing murder charges.
 
 
The University Hospital of North Norway told NTB that the man’s condition is stable and not life threatening.
 
According to broadcaster NRK, an impending breakup of the couple’s marriage is likely behind the double murder. The 37-year-old woman reportedly wanted out of the marriage.
 
One of the woman’s close friends told VG that he brought her to a shelter last week before reporting her husband to the police for psychological abuse.
 
Norasenteret in Kirkenes, a centre for abuse victims, confirmed to NRK that the deceased woman was in contact with the centre just days before she was murdered. According to the woman’s friend, she was scheduled to move into the centre on the same day she was killed.
 
The friend said that the woman spoke briefly with police, but he claims that they did not take any action. He is now accusing officers of not doing their job.
 
But Finnmark Police Commissioner Ellen Katrine Hætta told NRK that the woman denied having been abused by her husband and was primarily concerned with her son’s legal status in Norway.
 
“She was in contact with the police last Friday. At that point, she was mostly worried about the status of her son’s residence permit if she were to leave her husband,” Hætta said. 
 
According to VG, the couple was married in 2013. The woman had a Norwegian residence permit but it was not immediately known if her son also had a valid residence permit.
 
Police are working on the theory that the 59-year-old man shot his wife and stepson and then turned the gun on himself. 
 
“We believe it is likely that it is the accused man who did it, based on the findings we have so far,” chief investigator Torstein Pettersen said. 
 
Pettersen said questioning the man would be the top priority once the man’s physical condition allows it. 
 
The National Criminal Investigation Service (Kripos) is assisting Finnmark Police with the investigation. 

CRIME

Norway’s ex-biathlon boss jailed for three years for corruption

A Norwegian court on Friday sentenced a former international biathlon boss to prison for three years and one month for accepting bribes, primarily from Russian officials, including luxury watches, prostitutes and hunting trips.

Published: 12 April 2024 16:53 CEST
Norway's ex-biathlon boss jailed for three years for corruption

Norwegian Anders Besseberg, the 78-year-old head of the International Biathlon Union from 1993 to 2018, was found guilty of nine of 10 counts of aggravated corruption during the period 2009-2018, charges he denied.

“I am of course disappointed and surprised about the verdict and some of the judges’ reasoning. I am appealing on the spot,” Besseberg told the court after the judge read out the 67-page verdict over the course of almost three hours.

“The defendant breached the trust that came with his position at the IBU by accepting the benefits,” judge Vidar Toftoy-Lohne at the Buskerud district court said.

The prosecution hailed the verdict.

“There is a lot of money in circulation in international elite sport. The federations manage substantial financial assets and make decisions that are important for both athletes and the business community,” prosecutor Marianne Djupesland said in a statement.

“We hope this verdict can contribute to raising awareness and that it will have a preventive effect,” she said.

Prosecutors had sought a jail term of three years and seven months and a fine of one million kroner ($95,000).

The court did not hand down a fine, but ordered Besseberg to return gifts amounting to 1.4 million kroner.

Besseberg admitted accepting gifts but dismissed the notion that corruption was involved.

“Even if I received expensive gifts and was invited by many to go hunting, I must stress that I never let myself be corrupted,” he told the court during his trial, media reported.

Russian shadow

As head of the IBU when the Russian doping scandal exploded in the 2010s, Besseberg was accused of initially hiding cases of Russian doping in his sport in exchange for favours.

Prosecutors dropped that line of attack, but in Norway, receiving improper favours, even if no services are provided in exchange, is enough to constitute corruption.

Russia’s shadow nonetheless hung heavily over the case.

According to an inquiry launched by Sweden’s Olle Dahlin, who succeeded Besseberg as head of the IBU, Besseberg pushed to hold the 2021 biathlon world championships in Tyumen, Siberia, despite the Russian doping scandals.

The contest was eventually awarded to Pokljuka in Slovenia.

Prosecutors argued that Besseberg went on fully paid hunting trips in Austria and in the Czech Republic, and for seven years drove a leased BMW X5, all paid for by Infront, a marketing company that held television rights to the sport.

They argued he was given three watches worth a total of more than 30,000 euros ($33,000), invited on trips to hunt deer and wild boar, and offered services from sex workers, all paid for by Russian officials.

Asked about an Omega watch worth more than 17,000 euros he received in 2011 for his 65th birthday, he said: “I did not think it was undeserved.”

The court said two of the three watches he received constituted corruption.

Besseberg also denied any contact with sex workers, acknowledging only what he said was a consensual affair with a 42-year-old Russian.

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