Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

CRIME

Terrorism trial for Oslo Pride shooter begins

A Norwegian man accused of shooting dead two people on the sidelines of Oslo's 2022 Pride festival pleaded not guilty to committing a "terrorist act", as his trial opened Tuesday.

Published: 12 March 2024 14:40 CET
Pictured is a file photo: A woman with a progress flag stands at a makeshift memorial at a crime scene.
A Norwegian man accused of shooting dead two people on the sidelines of Oslo's 2022 Pride festival pleaded not guilty to committing a "terrorist act", as his trial opened Tuesday. A woman with a progress flag stands at a makeshift memorial.(Photo by Olivier MORIN / AFP)

Zaniar Matapour, a 44-year-old Norwegian of Iranian origin, is accused of opening fire outside two bars in central Oslo, including the gay club London Pub, on the night of June 25 just hours before the Oslo Pride Parade was to be held.

Two men, aged 54 and 60, were killed and nine others were wounded. Matapour was apprehended by passersby as he tried to flee the scene.

With a bushy grey beard and a traditional Muslim shashiya hat, he appeared in court on Tuesday charged with terrorism for the murders and attempted
murders, which the prosecution said were “aimed at spreading fear among the public”.

“The terrorist act is serious as it led to the loss of several lives and put other lives in danger,” prosecutor Sturla Henriksbo said Tuesday as he read out the charge sheet in the Oslo district court.

Asked if he accepted the charges against him, Matapour replied that he did not.

He also protested against the fact that his trial was being held during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

While in custody, he has consistently refused to answer investigators’ questions and never provided any motive for the shooting.

One of the Norwegian police’s main theories is that he deliberately targeted the gay community because of his extremist religious views.

On an audio recording played by the prosecution, Matapour could be heard swearing allegiance to the Islamic State group just before the shooting.

Experts have been at odds over the suspect’s mental health. In August, two psychiatrists who examined Matapour found he was mentally stable at the time and therefore legally responsible for his actions, but a third expert came to the opposite conclusion.

If he were found legally responsible, he faces up to 30 years in prison, a sentence that can be extended if he were still considered a threat.

If found guilty but not legally responsible, he would be ordered to serve his sentence in a secure psychiatric facility.

The trial, which is scheduled to last until May 16, could also shed new light on the Norwegian domestic intelligence service’s shortcomings, after a report concluded it could have prevented the shooting.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
For members

OSLO

Is Oslo’s project to speed up work permits on track?

The City of Oslo aims to cut work permit processing times in the capital down from nine months to just three days. The Local has contacted authorities to update readers on the latest developments.

Published: 6 May 2024 10:09 CEST
Is Oslo's project to speed up work permits on track?

For years, Norway has been grappling with a shortage of skilled professionals, notably in the technology and IT sectors.

Recognising the need to address this talent gap, The City of Oslo and other partners launched a pilot project in 2023 called Kompetansespor (Competence Track).

The primary goal was to reduce the lengthy wait times for skilled workers to get work permits from around nine months to three days.

READ ALSO: What’s next for Oslo’s plan to slash work permit waiting times?

But what is the current status of the project? And is the new super-fast work permit process any closer to becoming a reality?

How the project has evolved in 2024

Since its inception, Competence Track has evolved into a more ambitious project that goes beyond just cutting work permit times.

The project’s focus has shifted towards new goals, which mostly revolve around exploring the use of a “digital wallet” to streamline the immigration process.

To make this happen, partners involved in the project, such as the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI), will collaborate with other key stakeholders from the governmental, municipal, and private sectors.

READ MORE: How Norway’s permanent residence rules have been tweaked

As the UDI explains in a document seen by The Local, a digital wallet refers to “an electronic application or platform that allows users to securely store, manage, and share digital identity credentials and other types of digital data,” which plays a “central role in handling digital evidence or verifiable credentials in a digital ecosystem.”

The wallet allows relevant authorities to access the holder’s paperwork, rather than having documents and credentials stored separately across several portals. 

New goals

The main aim for 2024 is to develop and explore an efficient and user-friendly process flow that can support the immigration of skilled workers to Norway.

According to a document that the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI) shared with The Local, other goals for the year include creating a prototype to test the efficacy of the digital wallet in improving immigration processes, investigating the feasibility of pre-qualifying employers to speed up the immigration process, and showcasing how collaboration across sectors can create better services for users.

The project remains committed to reducing administrative burdens, processing times, and information exchange accuracy, as well as preparing Norway for future challenges related to global mobility and digitalisation.

Meanwhile, the Oslo Business Region writes on its website that additional target groups such as students and family members of work permit applicants would be included in the fast track residence permit scheme. 

From the information available at the time of writing, it seems that project will still revolve around Oslo.

Gustav Try, an advisor at the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI), told The Local that the UDI’s Department of Managed Migration is currently working on a new test phase called “Pilot 2.0”.

“We are currently working on Pilot 2.0, but it is not finalised. The plan is to pilot it on selected students at the University of Oslo (UiO) in August. We are also considering piloting it on skilled workers, including UiO employees, throughout the autumn,” the department said.

Back in September, Thea Ullhaug Pope, senior content developer for the City of Oslo, told The Local that one of the long-term ambitions of the project is to try and get the scheme adopted by other regions and then nationally.

However, while the Competence Track project continues to progress, it seems unlikely that the initial ambition of reducing work permit waiting times from nine months to three days will be achieved on a mass scale anytime soon.

SHOW COMMENTS