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Thursday 17 January 2019 burned in Laila Bertheussen and Tor Mikkel Wara’s garbage can. At the same time, there was a threatening letter in the mailbox.
It consisted of the text “Withdraw REPORT – next time we will make it happen”. The shape was cut out newspaper letters. The Minister of Justice was out of town at a conference, but the partner was at home at Røa’s house in Oslo.
She rejects any implication both with fire and with the letter. Today, the court received a detailed explanation of their reactions.
“I was very moved, there were tears,” she said from the witness stand. When asked for more details, she described her own reaction as “an incipient panic attack.” At the same time, she added that she quickly gained control of her own emotions. Soon after, she informed the media, in fact before the police specialists were in the yard.
Versus digital accessories Bertheussen was forced to admit that she must have taken photographs of both the threatening letter and the remains of the fire. The photos were shared in the closed chat group where, among others, HRS journalist Rita Karlsen was a member.
At 16:09 in the afternoon, the leak was a fact. “I think there is a journalist out there so please drive. It is not a copy of the letter, just the content,” Bertheussen wrote to Karlsen.
A minute later, forensic technicians from the Oslo police came to the door to investigate the crime scene. Soon after, Bertheussen gave the go-ahead for HRS to also use the photos it had taken. But anonymity was important. “I’m fine as silent Laila,” she wrote on Messenger.
Everything is in a strange light when we know what Bertheussen explained in an interview with PST that same night. “I have never spoken to the media, I have never had contact with the media. I don’t respond to them, I don’t respond to anything, ”he explained just three hours after the fire.
Today in court, she said she viewed Karlsen at HRS as a friend and not as a journalist.
It is not surprising that the prosecution was interested in Laila Bertheussen’s contact with the press. Today they got to work. At times, the defendant was heavily pressured by both prosecutors.
Although somewhat reluctant He had to admit that he wanted the events to be paid attention to.
What is the reason you want attention first and foremost? Is it more important that the police find those responsible? », Wanted to know the prosecutor Formo. “I don’t see that there is any contradiction between the two,” replied the defendant.
She added that she was very confident that the police would solve the case. Besides, she thought the press would be informed anyway. She may have been right about the latter, at least one online newspaper covered the case at the same time Bertheussen reported to HRS.
Compared to what we have previously heard about the leaks, the prosecution will likely continue to claim that a pattern is forming.
The fire and the threatening letter arrived the same day as Bertheussen had been at a photography seminar. There, the play “Ways of seeing” was once again the subject.
Obviously, the prosecution believes that the dispute with the theater has repeatedly provoked it. And that has led her to stage threats against her and her family. Everything to frame the theater and the people around it.
But proving it is another matter. Even today, no direct and conclusive evidence was presented to the court that could have nailed the defendant to the charges.
The trial has turned out to contain many loose ends. We will probably have to wait until the evidence ends to unravel them. And many of those following court proceedings may think that the prosecution’s case is not as obvious as previously thought.
But interrogations like the one we witness today are hardly in favor of the accused.
