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Man jailed for sending death threats to PM

NTB/The Local
NTB/The Local - [email protected]
Man jailed for sending death threats to PM
PM Erna Solberg faced regular death threats over a 2 year period. Photo: Håkon Mosvold Larsen / NTB scanpix

A man in his twenties was jailed after being accused of orchestrating a campaign of death threats against Prime Minister Erna Solberg and Norway's Royal family, a court ruled on Tuesday.

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The man was kept in custody on Tuesday after he was accused of repeatedly threatening the Norwegian leader over a two year period, sending her letters containing syringes, reported TV2. He is also charged with threatening the Royals with death, assault and bomb attacks.

The Norwegian Police Security Service (PST) charged the man for violating Paragraph 99 of Norwegian criminal law, where threats against high-profile figures can carry a jail sentence of up to 15 years.
 
The man had previously been arrested in December 2013 for sending several threatening letters to the Prime Minister and other Norwegian MPs. He was not jailed on that occasion, but PST believe he now poses a realistic danger to the security of his victims.
 
The man was remanded in custody following a ruling by Oslo district court on Tuesday afternoon.
 
Defence lawyer for the accused, Erlend Liaklev Andersen, requested the trial be kept behind closed doors, but the request was turned down by the court, according to Dagbladet.
 
Andersen does not believe imprisonment is necessary. He said: “The points of the charge are more in bad taste than they are serious. According to my evaluation, he doesn't fulfill the criteria for imprisonment.”
 
The Prime Minister or her office refused to comment on the the case.
 
Solberg has previously suffered death threats in 2003, when Minister of Local Government. She was granted protection with a bodyguard after receiving death threats from an asylum seeker believing that the Prime Minister was responsible for him becoming deported from Norway.
 
In March 2012, Islamic extremist Mulla Krekar was sentenced to five years in a Norwegian prison for making repeated death threats against Erna Solberg and other Norwegian politicians.

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