[ [http://tux1.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/d26030.htm Kjuus tapte i Høyesterett] ("Kjuus lost in the Supreme Court") Aftenposten, November 28, 1997 no icon] ]upreme Court
Kjuus appealed the case directly to the Supreme Court of Norway who heard the appeal in November 1997. The chief justice Carsten Smith decided that the appeal would be heard with the entire Supreme Court since the case touched upon important questions of principle. Of the nineteen justices on the court, seventeen handled the case. Georg Fredrik Rieber-Mohn was recused from the case since he was formerly the prosecuting attorney who had charged Kjuus while Lars Oftedahl Broch was absent due to illness. [ [http://tux1.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/d24095.htm Rieber-Mohn erklærte seg inhabil i Kjuus-saken] ("Rieber-Mohn recused in the Kjuus-case") November 4, 1997 no icon]
The argument from the defense was that the verdict violated Kjuus' right to free speech (constitutionally protected by §100 in the Norwegian Constitution). Kjuus's attorney John I. Henriksen also argued that the party program did not target any specific ethnic group, and that since Kjuus's party was without any political power, and that any threats arising from the party program were completely abstract. [ [http://tux1.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/d24186.htm Adoptivbarn følger nøye med] (Adoptive children are following closely) Aftenposten, November 4, 1997 no icon]
The appeal was rejected after only five of the seventeen justices voted for acquittal, while twelve voted to uphold the sentence. In fact, the Supreme Court went further, and convicted Kjuus for the all the points the prosecutor had argued were in violation of §135a. In the city court, Kjuus was only convicted for the part about adoptive children, in the Supreme Court he was also convicted due to the points on foreigners in general.
In the verdict authored by Karenanne Gussgard, the court opined that the party program called for ethnic cleansing, and that it involved "extreme infringements of integrity". The minority of five who voted to acquit agreed that the program was reprehensible, but that the free speech protections afforded by the constitutions §100 should have been given greater weight. [ [http://tux1.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/d26087.htm Kjuus vant ikke frem i Høyesterett] ("Kjuus did not win in the Supreme Court") Aftenposten, November 29, 1997 no icon]
Reactions to the verdict were mixed, with Nils Øy of the Norwegian association of editors calling it a blow to free speech [ [http://tux1.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/d26017.htm Kjus-dommen: - Et tap for ytringsfriheten] ("The Kjuus-verdict: A blow to free speech") Aftenposten, November 28, 1997 no icon] , while the society for the adopted expressed relief that the verdict had been expanded. [ [http://tux1.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/d26040.htm Adoptivbarna glade over kjennelsen] Aftenposten, November 28, 1997 no icon]
References and notes
Other links
* [http://www.axt.org.uk/antisem/archive/archive1/norway/index.htm Norway] axt.org
