31.03.2009
Victories against
Foreign
readers are wondering who represented the Riis-family
and who won their three cases against
Most
people familiar to these cases know that I was the Riis-familie’s
representative before the Court in
The Legal500
lawyer Aabø-Evensen has no reason to proclaim
victories in
Further on
a misleading introduction of the 2008-decision by the ECHR
could give reasons to uncertainty regarding this matter
To clear
all doubts and misunderstandings regarding the representation of these cases, I
will give the following statement:
It was
Herman J Berge (me) that instigated the Riis-family
to complain against intolerable Norwegian civil procedure (which still hasn’t
changed despite these three important victories, see below); that prepared the
cases before the ECHR; that filed the cases to the ECHR and that won the cases against Norway in the ECHR. Besides some €5.000 that I was rewarded for my first
victory in 2004 I have been paid Zero for my work regarding these cases in the
Court in
No lawyer has been helping me or the Riis-family with
the ECHR-cases. Prior to the filings of the first case
that I won in 2004, I confirm that I got valuable help from a Norwegian judge
inspiring and encouraging me to file the application.
The legal situation in
On the
request from Attorney General Mr. Bjørn Haug,
Judge Nils B Hohle with the
Court of Appeals replied on September 14 1978 that:
“I will be
in the Court of Appeals in
This correspondence between the Attorney General and a
Norwegian judge, where they (basically; the Government and the Court) are
discussing how to demolish a party and their case, more than indicates how bad
the legal situation was in
Almost 18 years had passed from the case was filed in
1986 till Riis had a binding decision from the
Supreme Court in August 2003. The Minister of Justice, Knut
Storberget, who by the way is a lawyer, stated
through his Attorney General that a complaint against some 18 years of
administration of a court case, should be considered
as a manifestly ill-founded complaint. Considering a normal life expectancy of
some 78 years this statement is lunacy. Amazed by such a judgment one has to
ask; who has talked him out of his senses? ECHR
agreed with my standing, stating:
"It thus lasted 17 years and five months for
three levels of jurisdiction. In the view of the Court, the mere duration of
the proceedings raises a serious issue under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention.
In the light of the above, the Court finds that this
complaint is not manifestly ill-founded within the meaning of Article 35 § 3 of
the Convention."
Given the fact that the Norwegian Minister of Justice
can’t see anything wrong in letting three court cases live their own lives
unattended in his own jurisdiction for more than 55 years altogether, and that
he even thinks that a complaint against almost two decades of administration
each should be regarded as manifestly ill-founded, raises several serious
questions about both his leadership as well as his ability to reason. No
country will be considered serious when its Minister of Justice embodies
thoughts that to such an extent are divided from the people he is to serve.
The situation has become even worse since 1978. After
I won the first case against
The Minister of Justice, Mr. Storberget,
is responsible for this Norwegian judicial misery, but as his predecessors he
doesn’t really demonstrate any interest to it. Norway and her courts are on a
daily basis breaching the European Convention on Human Rights, and by doing so
confirming that she couldn’t care less about the Convention on Human Rights or
any (what Norwegian authorities considers) none-binding judgement delivered
from this court.
If you
want this to change, then you should stand up not only for your own rights when
they are challenged by such a corrupt system, but also for your fellows.
Herman J Berge
Luxembourg
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