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Swedish police: Wagner defector arrested in Copenhagen to be returned to Norway

The Wagner military group defector Andrej Medvedev will be returned to Norway from Sweden, Swedish police confirmed on Friday.

Published: 7 April 2023 13:36 CEST
Stockholm
Medvedev allegedly took the bus to Gothenburg because the price of cigarettes was lower in Sweden than in Norway. Photo by Sebastian Pichler on Unsplash

On Thursday evening, the Russian human rights activist Vladimir Osetshkin announced that Medvedev had been arrested in Sweden.

According to Oseshkin, Medvedev took the bus to Gothenburg because the price of cigarettes was lower in Sweden than in Norway.

“Andrej claims he did not know that he could not leave Norway before the case of political asylum was processed,” Osetshkin noted.

He is said to have missed his bus back to Norway and was then arrested.

“He will be taken back to Norway. He does not have the right to stay in Sweden, so he will be taken to Norway, where he has applied for asylum, police press officer Malin Sandström told Ekot, the news service of Swedish national radio broadcaster Sveriges Radio.

Medvedev arrived in Norway from Russia on January 13th. He received a lot of attention because he claimed to have evidence of war crimes by the Wagner forces in Ukraine.

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OSLO

Norwegian prosecutor wants maximum sentence for Oslo Pride shooter

Norway's public prosecutor on Tuesday asked that the maximum penalty of potentially life behind bars be handed down to the alleged perpetrator of the fatal shooting at Oslo's 2022 Pride festival.

Published: 15 May 2024 09:18 CEST
Norwegian prosecutor wants maximum sentence for Oslo Pride shooter

Zaniar Matapour, a 44-year-old Norwegian of Iranian origin, has been on trial since mid-March and is accused of an “aggravated act of terror”.

Matapour is accused of opening fire outside two bars in central Oslo, including the gay club London Pub, on the night of June 25th, just hours before the Oslo Pride Parade was to be held.

Two men, aged 54 and 60, were killed and nine others were wounded.

“There is no reason as to why the maximum sentence cannot be used in a case like this,” prosecutor Aud Kinsarvik Gravas said.

The maximum sentence is 30 years but can be extended indefinitely.

“He has shown no remorse or reflection. We have seen no change in him” over the last two years, Kinsarvik Gravas said.

Matapour, who was restrained by passersby after the shooting, pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group and has never revealed his motives. He pleaded not guilty.

Psychiatric experts have been divided over his mental health, and thereby his legal responsibility, but the public prosecutor deemed him criminally responsible at the time of the events and that he deliberately targeted the gay community.

The sentence sought against him, which includes a minimum of 20 years, would in practice keep him in detention for as long as he is deemed a danger to society.

The alleged mastermind behind the attack, Arfan Bhatti, a 46-year-old Islamist well-known in Norway, was extradited on May 3rd from Pakistan, where he had taken up residence before the shooting.

He will be tried at a later date.

The final part of the trial, due to last until Thursday, will be devoted to the defence case.

A verdict is not expected for several weeks.

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