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The Oslo District Court has concluded that a 61-year-old Norwegian citizen can be extradited to France in connection with a terrorist case in Paris almost 40 years ago. Photograph: Stian Lysberg Solum / NTB
The Oslo District Court has concluded that a 61-year-old Norwegian citizen can be extradited to France in connection with a terrorist case in Paris almost 40 years ago.
- NTB-Anne Marjatta Gøystdal and Dag Kjørholt
The actual extradition request will possibly be processed at a later date. The first step in the process of a judicial hearing in district court began on Friday.
However, this does not mean that you can get on a plane right away.
– What will happen is a test of whether the conditions of the request have been met. We have examined it objectively and factually, but we cannot see that there is anything wrong with the petition, the man’s defender, attorney Ole Martin Meland, tells NTB.
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BACKGROUND: Norway taken in connection with the 1982 Paris terrorist attacks
Terrorist attacks in Paris
The 61-year-old man from Skien, of Palestinian origin, was placed in pre-trial detention at the Oslo District Court for four weeks on September 10. He was arrested in Skien by the Police Security Service (PST) the day before.
He moved to Norway with his wife and children in 1991 and, according to the ruling, became a Norwegian citizen six years later. French prosecutors say he was involved in a 1982 terrorist attack on a Jewish restaurant in Paris. Six people died and 22 were injured in the attack.
The attack is related to the now defunct Palestinian militant organization Abu Nidal (ANO), of which French police believe the Norwegian was a part.
The man has previously denied the incident and told VG five years ago that he had never been to Paris.
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Paris suspects to VG: – I have never killed anyone
This is the second time that France has requested the Norwegian’s extradition. The first time was in 2015, but at that time the legislation indicated that the case was obsolete.
About the Attorney General
The new charge will be identical to the previous one, but French authorities hope the man could be extradited because Norway last year ratified an agreement with the EU on arrest warrants.
The man will oppose extradition, emphasizes his lawyer.
– We do not see that the conditions for the petition are not met, but whether he should be extradited is a completely different matter. Then there are other times to look at, Meland says.
The case now goes to the Attorney General, who will make his evaluations before it possibly continues in the court system.
