[ad_1]
On Monday, the trial began at Ringerike District Court, where 16 residents have sued the state and the AUF over the memorial site planned for July 22 in Utøyakaia, opposite Utøya in Hole municipality.
Many of the 16 residents participated in the rescue of young people during the terrorist attack in Utøya on July 22, 2011, which killed 69 people, mostly young people at the AUF summer camp. The neighbors’ attorney, Ole Hauge Bendiksen, says that the establishment of the memorial site will pose a risk of developing injury, suffering and discomfort for his clients.
Terrorism
Bendiksen says the memorial site will have full and dramatic expression and will be subject to a “significant terrorist and traumatic influx of tourists.”
– That is the point of the memorial site, therefore it will likely be a reminder and a risk factor for retraumatization, he said in his introductory speech.
The memorial site will consist of a staircase and 77 three-meter-high bronze columns, one for each of the 77 people who died in the Government Quarter and in Utøya. The length will be 26 meters.
Shared local environment
Bendiksen says that the establishment of the memorial site will also have negative psychosocial consequences for the local community.
– It has become a local environment that has been quite divided, and that division is quite strong, it creates problems in an otherwise vulnerable local environment, said Bendiksen.
By the lawyer’s own calculation, 86 percent of those living within a 1 kilometer radius around Utøyakaia are against the creation of the memorial site.
He added that even if several of the plaintiffs live further away than this, and therefore in the classical sense cannot define themselves as neighbors, they will still be affected by the memorial site.
– We fear the tourist traffic that, based on experience, moves throughout this area, says Bendiksen.
Neighbors are not against establishing a memorial site, but believe it should be located elsewhere.
You can take the case to EMD
Ten days have been set aside for the trial and a total of 27 witnesses will be brought in.
Last week, residents lost an appeal in the Borgarting Court of Appeal to temporarily halt construction of the monument pending the outcome of the ongoing trial. Therefore, the memorial site will in all likelihood be completed before a final judgment is available.
Bendiksen tells NTB that neighbors still believe that it is important and correct to carry out the trial.
– There are many examples of how you can win even after you have built something. If we win in district court, it is also possible to file a new petition for an interim injunction, he told NTB on Friday.
Bendiksen says that, if necessary, he is prepared to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
Neighbors believe that the memorial site violates both the Neighborhood Law and Article 8 of the European Commission of Human Rights, which, among other things, deals with the right to respect for private life, family life and home.
Important to get a memorial site
AUF process assistant Pål Martin Sand says it is now important for the AUF, survivors and family members to leave the process behind and establish a national monument.
He says AUF wants to make it clear during the trial that it is a memorial site that will not be visible from the road or from the plaintiffs’ homes.
– Many adjustments have been made to accommodate the plaintiffs’ wishes, and we believe that the establishment of this memorial site in itself will not lead to additional psychological or harm. We have also received support for this from leading professional settings within trauma psychology, Sand told NTB on Friday.
The AUF and the state, among other things, will lead several specialists in psychiatry and trauma who will testify to support this.
