OSLO – A Norwegian court on Friday sentenced a former minister’s partner to 20 months in prison after she was convicted of threatening the country’s democracy by carrying out threats and vandalizing her own house and car in an attempt to show that the couple’s privacy was invaded by a theatrical production.
The accused, Anita Laila Bertheussen, is the partner of the former Minister of Justice, Tor Mikkel Wara, of the right-wing Progress Party. She was found guilty of making anonymous threats to Mr. Wara and another minister sent, that they dipped their own house and car with the word “racist” and a hookworm street, and later set the car on fire – all to prove her false claim the couple was attacked .
Eirin Eikefjord, a political editor who covered the case for the daily newspaper Bergens Tidende, said: “This is an extraordinary case, some will go crazy, which has shaped conversations about what those in power in Norway are making of it.”
Bertheussen’s campaign began after a play in November 2018 in a theater in Oslo. The play has footage of the house where she lived with Mr. Wara shown, along with images of the homes of other politicians who accused the production of harboring racist attitudes in Norway. The play, called ‘Ways of Seeing’, aimed to map ‘the networks interested in making Norway a more racist society’, according to a description on the theater’s website.
Although ‘Ways of Seeing’ did not display the addresses of the houses, the production sparked a debate about freedom of expression and the length that artists can use with political commentary.
Bertheussen was apparently furious. “They call it art, I call it a gross violation of my privacy,” she wrote in a December 2018 opinion piece in the VG newspaper.
Then things took a darker turn. Bertheussen lodged a complaint against the theater company after a swastika and the word “racist” were painted on her house, which was later placed under police guard. Mr. Wara and another minister received further threats, prompting Prime Minister Erna Solberg to criticize the theater company for endangering officials.
The threats continue. In January 2019, a fire in a rubbish bin outside the house of me. Bertheussen and mr. Wara founded; in March of that year, their car was set on fire.
Then came a turn: Ms. Bertheussen was arrested and accused of staging the arson herself. Mr. Wara immediately resigned from the Ministry of Justice.
In the trial of me. Bertheussen, who started in September, the court heard how a piece of evidence led the investigators to suspect that Mrs. Bertheussen is behind the attacks.
Handwriting experts testified that some of the threatening letters and the graffiti on the house corresponded with the writing of me. Bertheussen, and a red pen apparently used to draw the swastika, were found inside.
A booklet of stamps with several missing items was also found in the house. Prosecutors said the missing stamps matched those used to deliver letters to Mr. Wara and another minister to post.
The court also heard how a cell phone application that tracks the movements of Ms. Bertheussen also found out that she was active that evening when investigators believed that the graffiti on the couple’s house had been painted.
Marit Formo, a prosecutor, said: “The aim was to make people believe that someone from the play or who sympathizes with it is behind these acts.”
The trial was broadcast live on Norwegian television, and it was not only because of the unusual details, but also because of the behavior of Ms. Bertheussen. She sometimes carried handmade bags with messages on them, including one that displayed a medical code indicating a personality disorder.
During the trial, Mrs. Bertheussen pleaded not guilty to charges of a farce, threats and criminal activities that hindered the country’s activity, which in Norway is usually called an attack on democracy, and insisted on ‘Everything is coincidental’. She was convicted of all but one, and said she would appeal the decision.
Prosecutors have asked for two years in prison.
Henrik Pryser Libell reports from Oslo and Elian Peltier from London.