On 6 June 2012, extreme right blogger Eivind Berge has been jailed for two weeks charged with death threats against police and hate talk on his blog. The police believed this man who called for police killings on the internet is so dangerous that he needed to be sentenced.
But the supreme court ruled out that the statements Berge has made on his blog are not covered by the freedom of speech in the Penal Code. The appeal of violence and killings of police officers are therefore not presented “publicly” in the legal sense and therefore it is not crime.
The decision led to controversies on the definition of publicity and the internet, as the supreme court did not recognize a blog as a mean to “publicize”. The decision will therefore make a sample for legal bindings of the expressions of hatred, racism and incitement on the internet.
About the Case
The 34-year old Eivind Berge has active blogs on the web. On several occasions he encouraged and sometimes glorified the killing of police officers.
Eivind Berge, who has studied in the United States, has previously expressed sympathy with the 22 July terrorist Anders Behring Breivik. 34-year-old was arrested on Wednesday 6 July.
During the arrest, police found four cartridges of 45 caliber – and textbooks on blasting and explosives. Faced with the police, Berge had said said he is standing for what he has written on his blog, and that he writes the blog to “enlighten others.”
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