THE NORWEGIAN minister for justice has resigned following criticism over the police handling of the massacre of 69 people on the lake island of Utøya last July.
Knut Storberget has stepped down from his post yesterday the prime minister, Jens Stoltenberg, announced. The former defence minister Grete Faremo will take over. Ms Faremo is an experienced politician and lawyer and was also minister of justice between 1992 and 1996. She has been minister of defence since 2005. She is to be replaced by Espen Barth Eide, previously state secretary to the ministry of foreign Affairs.
Mr Storberget’s resignation came a day after he addressed the Norwegian parliament, the Storting, to face criticism of the police handling of the Utøya attack and a bomb blast a short time earlier in central Oslo in which eight people died.
Both were carried out by a right-wing extremist, Anders Behring Breivik, with a hatred for Norway’s multiculturalism and Muslims.
There has been long-running criticism on how the police and emergency services failed to deal with the situation quickly and effectively. The only real surprise was the admittance that the response time in which Breivik was apprehended was later than first admitted. Police have continually given a time figure of 18.27 but Mr Storberget amended that to “between 18.32 and 18.34”, a time difference between 5 and 7 minutes later than claimed.
The 22nd July commission findings are not due to be released until August next year. Many of the relatives and their lawyers feel that some elements of what happened should be released now rather than having to wait for the commission’s report. Some families had also expected and hoped for an apology yesterday. While Mr Storberget did agree that it was legitimate to question police operations, he also said “that it was hard to answer all the questions surrounding the attacks until evaluations are completed”.
Mr Stoltenberg, told reporters that while he did not wish him to leave, he (Storberget) “had wanted to leave and had planned on leaving after the local elections. He decided, however, to remain on after the events of 22nd July.”
He added that the former justice minister had a young family and was a new father and was on paternal leave at the moment but that he will not be leaving politics. Mr Storberget had also received heavy criticism over the recent spate of rapes in Oslo.
Breivik is due to appear in Oslo’s district court for the third time on Monday. The hearing, on the extension of his custody for a further 12 weeks, will be open to both media and the relatives. Breivik, however, will only appear via video link. The trial is due to begin around Easter next year.