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Brit fails to defend herself after pie attack on Norwegian minister

NTB/The Local
NTB/The Local - [email protected]
Brit fails to defend herself after pie attack on Norwegian minister
The woman is thought to have left Norway after serving 30 days in jail. Photo: Erik Fosheim Brandsborg / NTB scanpix

The British woman who was convicted of an “attack on democracy” for shoving a shaving cream pie into he face of Norwegian Equality Minister Solveig Horne in June did not show up to her appeal case on Tuesday.

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“She didn’t show up and thus the appeal against her conviction is denied. That’s the way the rules are when one doesn’t show up,” the woman's lawyer, Benedict de Vibe, said.
 
In July the 22-year-old woman was sentenced to 45 days in jail by the Oslo District Court. The verdict was appealed to the Borgarting Court of Appeal, where prosecutors on Tuesday upheld the 45 day jail sentence.
 
 
The woman’s lawyer said in court that her client’s sentence should not be stricter than the 30 days in prison given to a man who threw a pie in the face of then Finance Minister Kristian Halvorsen in 2005. 
 
“She has already served 30 days and was released even though she was sentenced to 45 days in jail. The question was whether she would have 15 additional days, de Vibe said. 
 
He said that his client is not in Norway and has likely not been in the country since she was released. At the time of her arrest, the 22-year-old British citizen claimed to be without residence or work in Norway or elsewhere. 
 
The pie-throwing incident happened during the Oslo Pride Parade on Saturday, June 25th. According to the indictment, the woman ran toward Horne before shoving a pie crust filled with shaving foam into the minister’s face. 
 
De Vibe said at the time of the woman's arrest that his client denied it was a premeditated act. 
 
“I have spoken with her [and] she has not admitted to doing it. It was in any case not something she planned. She was here to visit friends,” de Vibe Malling told broadcaster NRK.
 
Horne, however, has been accused of holding anti-gay views. Her controversial comments on homosexuality include questioning the appropriateness of reading gay-themed books to young children, saying transgendered people should be treated for mental illness and suggesting that gay-rights groups should receive less financial support from the state. 
 

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