OSLO (Reuters) – The partner of Norway’s former justice minister has been found guilty of making threats against democracy by setting fire to her car and vandalising the family’s home, an Oslo court said on Friday, sentencing her to 20 months in prison.
In a bizarre case that gripped the nation, Laila Anita Bertheussen, 56, was apprehended by police in 2019, triggering the resignation of then Justice Minister Tor Mikkel Wara of the law-and-order Progress Party.
“We are in no doubt that the case was thoroughly investigated. The police did not have tunnel vision in this case,” Oslo district court judge Yngvild Thue said while reading the unanimous verdict.
Bertheussen had pleaded not guilty to all charges and rejected the prosecution’s claim that she had sought to generate sympathy for the family.
It was not immediately clear if she would appeal the verdict.
(Reporting by Terje Solsvik, editing by Gwladys Fouche)
