308 claims for restitution – an increase from 244 when the trial began – NRK Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country

The trial against Zaniar Matapour is now in its 8th week.

Matapour is accused of shooting 11 people, killing two of them, and injuring several others in the terrorist attack on June 25, 2022.

While the trial has run its course, the number with the status of offended has steadily increased. It also has the number of legal assistants.

– When the main negotiations began, there were 244 who had been appointed legal counsel, and this has increased to 308 now, all of whom put forward claims for compensation. I represent 220 of the 308, says coordinating aid attorney Christian Lundin to NRK.

64 people have thus been appointed legal counsel while the trial has been ongoing.

Last week at the latest, Lundin was contacted by several people who wanted to be represented in the trial, and put forward claims on their behalf.

Several people say to him and the four other legal assistants in the case that they have not been told that they have a right to legal aid in relation to the trial.

– It is very regrettable that it has come to so many so late in the matter. This was something we brought up very early on with the police, that you have to survey everyone and inform them of their rights and get a legal aid appointed for them, so that they can look after their interests, he says.

– Arbitrary

Not everyone with legal assistance has the status of victimized by the police. In the second week of the trial, the police stated that the number of victims had increased from 269 to 271. Now the number is 275, the police said.

Lundin says several of his clients feel discriminated against. Among other things, he represents clients who were standing in the same place when the shooting took place, but still have different status.

– It shows how arbitrary and random this really has been. When you know what consequences it has, it is very regrettable.

Police attorney Ingvild Myrold ​​denies that the victim has not received information about their right to legal assistance, and that the demarcation among the victim is arbitrary.

According to the public assistance lawyer, people who have been granted witness status by the police may struggle to get compensation from the Office for Victim Compensation, under the new Violence Compensation Act.

– If you don’t put forward the claim for compensation now, then you basically lose that claim. Because the violence victim compensation authorities have interpreted it very restrictively.

– The Office for Compensation for Victims of Violence takes the position that you must be considered offended in order to make any claims in the case. Therefore, it is very important that they receive the status of aggrieved, and not least report their demands now, so that they are included. Because it is in the nature of the case that the perpetrator does not have the means to pay, so it is the state at the Office for Victim Compensation that handles these claims, says Lundin.

– Unintelligible

The support group on 25 June has several times come out against what they believe is discriminatory treatment of the victims after the attack.

Now they are supported by the Support Group on 22 July, which recognizes the problem from the main hearing against Anders Behring Breivik.

In the commission’s report on 22 July, it was mentioned how several people affected after the attack found the lack of legal aid difficult.

13 years after the terrorist attack in the Government Quarter and on Utøya, Røyneland says that they are still meeting victims of the case, which have only now had repercussions.

She is afraid the same will happen to the victims after 25 June, without them being encouraged to seek help.

– I think it is very incomprehensible that you have not included everyone who was in the pubs. That someone got a lawyer while someone who was half a meter away didn’t. Then they lose the right to assistance, they don’t get information, and no one encourages them to contact the healthcare system if they should start to have health effects, says leader Lisbeth Røyneland to NRK.

Last questioning carried out in April

Police attorney Myrold ​​states that there are still 46 people without legal aid.

In April, the police called the number of victims too dynamic during testimony in court. Myrold ​​says that the police last questioned a victim in the case on 24 April.

In an e-mail to NRK, she writes that the police called all the victims in the case without a legal aid at the beginning of March, to ask if they wanted to submit compensation claims.

Several of these did not want legal aid or compensation, says the police attorney. Those who wanted this were forwarded to legal aid attorney Lundin.

Myrold ​​denies that the aggrieved party has not been told that they are entitled to legal aid and compensation.

– The police informed all persons who have been questioned as offended, of their right to be assisted by a legal aid lawyer. Those who were first questioned as witnesses and who later had their status changed to victim were called and informed that they have the right to make a claim for compensation and to have a legal aid appointed, writes Myrold.

Furthermore, she says that the delineation of who is offended, and who is a witness, has been a thorough assessment.

– Based on the overall picture, the police have focused on who comes under the law as offended. There is nothing arbitrary about the work of the police. The court is free to review the police’s assessment, at any stage in the case.

She adds that other injured parties can also submit claims for compensation.

– In practice, those who experience psychological damage or are injured in some other way will also have the opportunity to make a claim for compensation, regardless of their procedural status in the case.

The trial against Zaniar Matapour ends on May 16.