The police violence case at Kongsberg: – Still denies guilt

The policeman was acquitted on all counts after the much-discussed violent incident at Kongsberg in autumn 2022.

He was charged with two cases of gross bodily harm against Kevin Simensen and Kristian Teigen, as well as gross negligent misconduct.

The policeman still denies criminal guilt.

Read all the cases about the police violence case here.

During his opening presentation in the Court of Appeal, prosecutor Marit Oliver Storeng objects to expert witness Arne Guddal’s statement of his assessments of whether the violence was legal or not.

– It is the court that must decide whether the actions were within the framework of legal use, she says.

Wants guidance for expert witness

When the main hearing in the police violence case took place last year, the parties argued about the same witness.

Storeng asks Guddal neither to demonstrate the use of a baton and knife, nor to make a statement about the legality of the defendant’s actions.

During Guddal’s testimony in the district court, the prosecutor broke in several times, and pointed out that he had not been summoned to court to assess the situation. Guddal himself said, during the explanation last year, that he had seen case documents and video surveillance from the case.

Argument over expert witness

– He was to explain himself as an expert witness on the use of force in general, and not in this case in particular. In the preparations for the statement, he has had access to all case documents and video surveillance, says Storeng on Tuesday.

When asked by the judge if the prosecutor can elaborate on the reason why she objects to Guddal demonstrating the use of a baton and knife, she replies that none of these were used during the incident, and that the police officers at the scene were also not familiar with the knife or the baton when he committed the violence is prosecuted for happened.

John Christian Elden, defense attorney for the accused police officer, says during his introductory speech that he is unsure what the prosecution, at Storeng, really means.

He also says that it may be that he asks Guddal to demonstrate how the baton and the knife can be used, and picks up the two objects.

– In the media, it has been stated that they (the baton and the knife, journalist’s note) cannot have any significance at that time. I don’t understand that logic. (…) What would have happened if you had not intervened in that situation, and these things were on the victim’s body late one night in Kongsberg? That is why this is central to the case – it shows why and how important it was that the police officer intervened, Elden asks.

He adds:

– The police’s task is to be prepared and protect the population – including for a situation where someone is armed or does not follow the police’s orders.

He also points out that the Bureau itself has summoned an expert witness who, like Guddal, has been presented with the surveillance video.

– The special unit has itself questioned an expert witness, and presented the video to the witness. (…) They have presented the evidence themselves during the investigation, says Elden.

Morten Kjensli, who was then the defense attorney for the victim Kevin Simensen, also objected to parts of Guddal’s explanation during the trial last year.

More concretely, he reacted to the fact that the task leader referred to something the defendant is said to have said to Simensen when he took his arm. This has not been proven, Kjensli pointed out.

New round in court: – Continued nightmare

Guddal said that from the video it appears that Simensen is fighting with “a tremendous force”.

– I consider that he has an opportunity to refrain and resist the police. (…) He has a choice to surrender.

At the same time, he praised the defendant’s handling of the situation:

– For me, he is a policeman with great operational capacity.

– Very uncomfortable

Dagbladet met the victims Kevin Simensen and Kristian Pablo Teigen a short time ago. They ended up in a fight with the police on their way home from the city on the night of 30 October 2022.

– It has been a topic in my head the whole time. I look forward to finishing the case, but it will be very unpleasant to go through everything again. I dread that, says Kevin Simensen to Dagbladet.

Attacking the Attorney General’s appeal

The violent incident was captured by a surveillance camera at a petrol station in the center of Kongsberg. The video, which was first published by Dagbladet, shows that a policeman repeatedly beats the two men – both with a tied hand and a telescopic baton.

The policeman was charged last summer with serious violence and grossly negligent breach of duty. He was – without any doubt – acquitted on all counts in the Buskerud district court. The majority of the court believed that the use of force appeared justifiable, compared to “the massive resistance” described by the police officer and his colleague, says the judgment, which was appealed by the Attorney General.

Simensen, Teigen and their friend Marius Stormo were charged with violence against the police following the incident. These were placed on the evidence stand early in March this year.

Heidi Reisvang and John Christian Elden of the Elden law firm are defending the policeman. He does not wish to comment in connection with the case, but the defenders have the following comment:

“The case was thoroughly dealt with in the district court last time. We cannot see that significant new evidence has emerged from the prosecution after the acquittals. We therefore look at the case in the same way now as in the district court.”