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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.

Germany mulls expulsions to Afghanistan after knife attack

Officials had been carrying out an “intensive review for several months… to allow the deportation of serious criminals and dangerous individuals to Afghanistan”, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told journalists.

“It is clear to me that people who pose a potential threat to Germany’s security must be deported quickly,” Faeser said.

“That is why we are doing everything possible to find ways to deport criminals and dangerous people to both Syria and Afghanistan,” she said.

Deportations to Afghanistan from Germany have been completely stopped since the Taliban retook power in 2021.

But a debate over resuming expulsions has resurged after a 25-year-old Afghan was accused of attacking people with a knife at an anti-Islam rally in the western city of Mannheim on Friday.

A police officer, 29, died on Sunday after being repeatedly stabbed as he tried to intervene in the attack.

Five people taking part in a rally organised by Pax Europa, a campaign group against radical Islam, were also wounded.

Friday’s brutal attack has inflamed a public debate over immigration in the run up to European elections and prompted calls to expand efforts to expel criminals.

READ ALSO: Tensions high in Mannheim after knife attack claims life of policeman

The suspect, named in the media as Sulaiman Ataee, came to Germany as a refugee in March 2013, according to reports.

Ataee, who arrived in the country with his brother at the age of only 14, was initially refused asylum but was not deported because of his age, according to German daily Bild.

Ataee subsequently went to school in Germany, and married a German woman of Turkish origin in 2019, with whom he has two children, according to the Spiegel weekly.

Per the reports, Ataee was not seen by authorities as a risk and did not appear to neighbours at his home in Heppenheim as an extremist.

Anti-terrorism prosecutors on Monday took over the investigation into the incident, as they looked to establish a motive.

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