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Iceland government collapses over pedophile furore

S

Strax

Member
BBC link

A furore over a paedophile's links to Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson has triggered the collapse of Iceland's ruling coalition.

The Bright Future party announced it was withdrawing from the three-party coalition after nine months in office.

It blamed a "serious breach of trust within the government". Earlier it emerged that the prime minister's father had written a letter recommending a convicted paedophile have his "honour restored".

This old Icelandic system permits convicts to have certain civil rights restored - enabling them to run for public office, qualify for certain government jobs or serve as an attorney or solicitor, for example - if three letters of recommendation from persons of good character are provided.

But Icelanders have been horrified by the secret backing for Hjalti Sigurjón Hauksson - convicted in 2004 of raping his stepdaughter almost every day for 12 years from when she was five. He served a five-and-a-half-year jail term.

The Reykjavik Grapevine news site quotes the survivor of Hauksson's abuse as saying it was "surreal" that he should receive restored honour. The government has also been accused of an attempted cover-up after it refused to disclose who had written the letter of recommendation.

It only emerged on Thursday that it was Benedikt Sveinsson, Prime Minister Benediktsson's father, but the prime minister is said to have been informed about his involvement in July.

In a statement, Mr Sveinsson apologised for providing the recommendation for Hauksson, an old friend of his. Iceland's justice minister has said she is preparing a bill to reform the restored honour system in response to the furore.

Icelandic journalist Hjortur Gudmundsson says the coalition's position was already fragile, as it had a majority of only one parliamentary seat before Bright Future withdrew its support. Calls are growing for a general election as there are few possible options for an alternative coalition to take power, he says."Since the economic crash of 2008 there has been a lot of suspicion towards politicians and a huge onus on honesty," Gudmundsson says.

"This is not the first time controversy has been linked to the PM - he was implicated in the Panama Papers [which brought down the previous government, in which he was finance minister]. There isn't much public patience for this kind of thing."
In his statement of apology, Mr Sveinsson tried to explain his actions, saying that Hauksson had brought him an already drafted letter which he signed.

"I have never considered the restored honour as anything except a legal procedure making it possible for convicted criminals to regain some civil rights," Mr Sveinsson said.
"I did not think of it as something that would justify Hjalti's position towards his victim. I told Hjalti to face his action and to repent."

"What was supposed to be a small gesture of good will towards a convicted criminal has instead turned into a continuation of the tragedy for the victim. For this I again apologise."
Click to expand...

_93348433_icetrioepa10jan17.jpg

Bright Future - led by Ottarr Proppe (left) - has now exited its nine-month coalition with Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson's Independence Party and Benedikt Johannesson's Reform party
 
F

Fancolors

Member
But Icelanders have been horrified by the secret backing for Hjalti Sigurjón Hauksson - convicted in 2004 of raping his stepdaughter almost every day for 12 years from when she was five. He served a five-and-a-half-year jail term.
Click to expand...
Jesus
 
A

Africanus

Member
Well if there was ever anything to bring down a coalition, there it is...

Surprising how pardoning a criminal is treated!
 
DJ_Lae

DJ_Lae

Member
But Icelanders have been horrified by the secret backing for Hjalti Sigurjón Hauksson - convicted in 2004 of raping his stepdaughter almost every day for 12 years from when she was five. He served a five-and-a-half-year jail term.
Click to expand...

Holy fuck.

Did not get enough jail time, and no wonder there's shit over a letter trying to restore his full rights.
 
D

D i Z

Member
12 years of rape and that's all he got? The fuck.....
Raping a 5 year old and he's not been buried yet? The fuck......
 
S

Symphonia

Banned
But Icelanders have been horrified by the secret backing for Hjalti Sigurjón Hauksson - convicted in 2004 of raping his stepdaughter almost every day for 12 years from when she was five. He served a five-and-a-half-year jail term.
Click to expand...
And he only got five years?

Yikes.
 
K

Kettu

Neo Member
D i Z said:
12 years of rape and that's all he got? The fuck.....
Raping a 5 year old and he's not been buried yet? The fuck......
Click to expand...


That nordic justice model. Hey, it's all about rehabilitation :).

I've had my own experience with the justice system here in Finland, and let's just say that next time i get almost killed by some psycho i'm going to think twice before calling the cops. "It's also your fault for defending yourself :), here take this massive fine you poor student. #bothsides"
 
N

Netherscourge

Banned
You only get 5.5 years in jail for raping a child for 12 years?


Probably a good thing the government is falling apart - it has failed on both fronts.
 
G

God Dayumm

Banned
All of them need to be investigated. You just don't pardon a pederast of that magnitude out of sympathy, there is dirt in there
 
Robot Carnival

Robot Carnival

Member
dafu!? from that description that person should get life in prison without the chance of parole, let alone "having his honor restore"!
 
F

Famassu

Member
Kettu said:
That nordic justice model. Hey, it's all about rehabilitation :).

I've had my own experience with the justice system here in Finland, and let's just say that next time i get almost killed by some psycho i'm going to think twice before calling the cops. "It's also your fault for defending yourself :), here take this massive fine you poor student. #bothsides"
Click to expand...
Rape is altogether punished too lightly in most places. This is not a problem with the nordic justice system. (EDIT: I mean, it's a problem, but not one that stems from the nordic system).

And you must be doing something wrong with your life if you get attacked by psychos all the time. You sound like a violent/aggressive person if you fantasize about taking justice to your own hands.
 
X

Xero

Member
Funny enough the prime ministers situation remibded me of villafort in count of monte cristo. Glad the icelanders are making sych a big push to change this rule though.
 
Goro Majima

Goro Majima

Kitty Genovese Member
I mean even setting aside the fact that he probably wasn't sentenced to a long enough term, how about setting the bar for public office a little higher than "raped a child every day for 12 years"? I feel like that's a pretty reasonable minimum requirement.

Edit: okay never mind, thought we were talking about someone eyeing public office
 
T

TarNaru33

Banned
IISANDERII said:
4000 rapes and only 5yrs in prison? Reconsidering travel plans...
Click to expand...

lol... This can be read the wrong way, bro.

So I am confused on this. This guy did his sentence then had his rights returned, is that what having honor is there or was he pardoned/had his sentence commuted?

I am not sure how I feel on this, but that sentence is way too low. Even as an advocate for rehabilitation, I can not agree with that sentencing.

EDIT: Don't know how I missed the explanation... I see and I agree that this guy shouldn't have those rights returned.
 
X

Xero

Member
TarNaru33 said:
lol... This can be read the wrong way, bro.

So I am confused on this. This guy did his sentence then had his rights returned, is that what having honor is there or was he pardoned/had his sentence commuted?

I am not sure how I feel on this, but that sentence is way too low. Even as an advocate for rehabilitation, I can not agree with that sentencing.
Click to expand...
My understanding is he served his full time, but ex convicts arent eligible for certain things like running for office, this rule allows those remaining privileges to be reinstated with enough letters of recommendations.
 
T

TarNaru33

Banned
Xero said:
My understanding is he served his full time, but ex convicts arent eligible for certain things like running for office, this rule allows those remaining privileges to be reinstated with enough letters of recommendations.
Click to expand...

Thanks, no wonder everyone is in a fit about it. I can't get behind that at all for this case.
 
K

Kettu

Neo Member
Famassu said:
all the time.
Click to expand...

Once.

And i'm not fantasizing, nice conclusions, though. I would have gotten off cheaper if i just drove off with my barely working car or something instead of calling the cops after some road raging lunatic rammed me into a ditch and tried to enter my car after the fact.

And a family member of mine has been a target of multiple death threats and extorsion by a another family member, and the punishment for that is something silly like a little fine, which only works to make the culprit more pissed off. They only care when it's already too late. Sorry for being so cynical, but that's just my experience.
 
T

TehOh

Member
This story also glosses over a few details that make the story much fucking worse.

The prime minister's father didn't just get a rapist pedophile pardoned, but he
a) secretly got a pedophile rapist pardoned
b) gave the guy a job
c) through his connections, got multiple gag orders placed at various levels of the Icelandic government to keep it secret

This isn't a matter of "some guy handed me a letter and I signed it.. oops"

Bright Future dissolved the coalition because that was what they saw as the only way to bring this to light (and unseat those responsible) - by forcing a new election. They did it at midnight yesterday in order to avoid any actions that would prevent them from acting, and so they could still say they did this on the day that they found out.

The situation is pretty messed up.

This Twitter thread summarizes it pretty well: https://twitter.com/andrierlingsson/status/908491738888724480
 
A

Altazor

Member
AJLma said:
and another one, so what's up with world leaders and their pedophile friends?
Click to expand...

power, the possibility of doing it and getting away with it and having access to a lot of shit because they have that power.

As for the news itself - I read it earlier today. Absolutely disgusting. There's obviously some horribly, nasty shit that people in power don't want uncovered.
 
T

TehOh

Member
AbortedWalrusFetus said:
I don't understand why they are blaming the PM for something his father did. It's not like the PM himself did it.
Click to expand...

My understanding is that the pardon system works by people "anonymously" submitting letters, than the government (I think the PM, but I'm not certain) signs off on it.

It is relatively likely that this wasn't anonymous at all, and that the PM acted on his father's behalf.
 
A

AbortedWalrusFetus

Member
TehOh said:
My understanding is that the pardon system works by people "anonymously" submitting letters, than the government (I think the PM, but I'm not certain) signs off on it.

It is relatively likely that this wasn't anonymous at all, and that the PM acted on his father's behalf.
Click to expand...

That would make more sense. I mean, I've seen plenty of instances where people get blame d for something an acquaintance or family member does that was completely out of their control. That sort of stuff is usually ridiculous. It also seems like his fathers party was part of the coalition, which would make sense why it dissolved. Of course, with Icelandic names I get super confused. Edit: Nope just another Benedikt. So unused to this naming convention.
 
P

perfectchaos007

Member
D i Z said:
12 years of rape and that's all he got? The fuck.....
Raping a 5 year old and he's not been buried yet? The fuck......
Click to expand...

I think maximum sentencing in some nordic countries is like 20 years. Even the Oslo mass murderer will be walking free in about 13 more years or so
 
KZObsessed

KZObsessed

Member
Rape a child nearly every day for 12 years and get 5 & 1/2 years in jail. Why are so many justice systems so unbelievably shit.
 
C

Chainsawkitten

Member
perfectchaos007 said:
I think maximum sentencing in some nordic countries is like 20 years. Even the Oslo mass murderer will be walking free in about 13 more years or so
Click to expand...

Breivik is never getting out.

And 5 years is a lot less than 20. I'd say raping someone continuously for 12 years deserves the maximum sentencing.

This isn't a problem with justice systems that favor rehabilitation. Even in countries with no regard for rehabilitation that love to dish out harsh punishments, rapists often get off far too easy.
 
IAmAnAgnostic

IAmAnAgnostic

Member
Kettu said:
That nordic justice model. Hey, it's all about rehabilitation :).

I've had my own experience with the justice system here in Finland, and let's just say that next time i get almost killed by some psycho i'm going to think twice before calling the cops. "It's also your fault for defending yourself :), here take this massive fine you poor student. #bothsides"
Click to expand...

Yes, the Nordic system is terrible for punishing serious crimes. Sure, rehabilitation is great for minor crimes, but I don't want rapists and murderers getting off with incredibly light sentences..

There's that one serial rapist/strangler who has killed and raped kids who has been arrested like 10 times, usually gets a few years and then attempts or succeeds to do more. And he is free today, after no prosecution for his latest "innocent stalking and planning to murder a young girl!"
 
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