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IMMIGRATION

Norway ex-minister charged with sexual abuse of asylum seekers

A former Norwegian cabinet minister was charged on Wednesday with sexually abusing three asylum seekers over a period of several years, prosecution authorities said.

Published: 28 November 2018 17:11 CET
Norway ex-minister charged with sexual abuse of asylum seekers
2008 file photo of Svein Ludvigsen. Photo: Stian Lysberg Solum / NTB Scanpix / AFP
Svein Ludvigsen, 72, was charged with one count of taking advantage of his position as regional governor, and one count of exploiting the asylum seekers' vulnerable situation, to abuse them sexually.
 
“The prosecution authorities have charged a former politician with the sexual abuse of three people,” prosecutor Tor Børge Nordmo said at a press conference.
 
The three are adults but much younger than Ludvigsen, and one of them suffers from a mild intellectual disability.
 
The events took place in his home, countryhouse, hotels and even at the governor's office in Tromso in northern Norway, between 2011 and 2017, according to the charges.
 
Before becoming regional governor, the former conservative politician held several high-ranking positions, including the post of fisheries minister from 2001 to 2005.
 
Ludvigsen, who was arrested in early 2018 and released from custody after five weeks, has denied the charges against him.

IMMIGRATION

France ‘will not welcome migrants’ from Lampedusa: interior minister

France "will not welcome migrants" from the island, Gérald Darmanin has insisted

Published: 20 September 2023 09:06 CEST
France 'will not welcome migrants' from Lampedusa: interior minister

France will not welcome any migrants coming from Italy’s Lampedusa, interior minister Gérald Darmanin has said after the Mediterranean island saw record numbers of arrivals.

Some 8,500 people arrived on Lampedusa on 199 boats between Monday and Wednesday last week, according to the UN’s International Organisation for
Migration, prompting European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen to travel there Sunday to announce an emergency action plan.

According to Darmanin, Paris told Italy it was “ready to help them return people to countries with which we have good diplomatic relations”, giving the
example of Ivory Coast and Senegal.

But France “will not welcome migrants” from the island, he said, speaking on French television on Tuesday evening.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has called on Italy’s EU partners to share more of the responsibility.

The recent arrivals on Lampedusa equal more than the whole population of the tiny Italian island.

The mass movement has stoked the immigration debate in France, where political parties in the country’s hung parliament are wrangling over a draft law governing new arrivals.

France is expected to face a call from Pope Francis for greater tolerance towards migrants later this week during a high-profile visit to Mediterranean city Marseille, where the pontiff will meet President Emmanuel Macron and celebrate mass before tens of thousands in a stadium.

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