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| Lawyer in Norway removed over media leaks |
| [29.02.2012, 07:08pm, Wed. GMT] |
A lawyer who leaked material about the investigation into the bombing and shooting attacks in Norway last year should be removed from the case with 'immediate effect,' a court ruled Wednesday. The dismissal came as a team of psychiatrists tasked with providing a second opinion on the mental health of self-confessed mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik began 24-hour observation of him.
The dismissed lawyer, Sigurd Klomsaet, represented a 16-year-old boy who survived the July 22 shooting in which 69 people died. The boy's father said the decision to remove Klomsaet would be appealed.
Judge Finn Haugen told a news conference that Klomsaet had violated ethical standards and his removal as an attorney for an aggrieved party could serve as a 'preventive measure.'
Police had requested that Klomsaet be removed on suspicion of leaking material. To prove their suspicions they electronically tagged photos and documents on a CD handed over February 3 to Klomsaet and other attorneys.
A few hours later, some of the material was published online by leading Norwegian news outlets, including broadcaster NRK. The material included photos taken by police of Breivik wearing a fake police uniform, shortly after his arrest.
The photos were later traced via 'the unique ID' to the CD collected by Klomsaet's firm, Haugen said.
Breivik has admitted to detonating a bomb in a government district in Oslo that killed eight people, and later the same day shooting dead 69 at a Labour Party summer camp on an island near the capital.
He said his actions were designed to punish the government for its pro-immigration policies.
Even if Klomsaet did not personally handle the CD, he was 'ultimately responsible' for protecting the material, Haugen said, noting that Klomsaet had authorized his associates to use his email account to acquire a password needed to unlock the CD.
In addition to police, 18 lawyers representing other aggrieved parties said they wanted Klomsaet removed since the publication had harmed their clients.
Breivik is now to be monitored around the clock in a specially furnished room in the prison where he is in custody.
The psychiatric observation - to last up to four weeks - is in accordance with a district court order, recently upheld by the Supreme Court.
Oslo district court judge Wenche Elizabeth Arntzen on January 13 said a second opinion on Breivik's mental health was needed, prior to the trial set to open April 16.
In November, two court-appointed psychiatrists concluded that Breivik was legally insane and suffering from paranoid schizophrenia.
They were later backed by a panel of psychiatrists and psychologists from the Norwegian Board of Forensic Medicine. But other experts questioned the diagnosis, sparking a national debate.
The room at the prison is furnished with a couch, a PC, a TV and a dinner table, his attorney Vibeke Hein Baera told broadcaster NRK.
The observation staff, including nurses and orderlies, are to work in shifts. Prison guards are on standby.
Security concerns prevented the observations being conducted at a psychiatric hospital, which was the preferred option. Two court-appointed psychiatrists meanwhile are to continue their sessions with Breivik.
(DPA)
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