Norway’s police intelligence unit PST has sent a letter to a commission conducting a re-evaluation of the country’s most famous spying case, against former diplomat Arne Treholt, claiming it can’t find video and audio tapes allegedly made during surveillance of Treholt’s Oslo apartment before his arrest in 1984.
“Scandalous,” responded Treholt himself to the latest twist in his ongoing attempt to clear his name.
The video and audio recordings are believed to have been illegally produced, and play a key role in what Treholt believes is the injustice he has suffered. Treholt’s lawyer, Harald Stabell, was also stunned by the PST claims that no such recordings can be found.
“That must mean this evidence has been destroyed,” Stabell told news bureau NTB this week. “There’s reason to ask whether this was a conscious effort to destroy evidence.”
Treholt told VG Nett that the video and audio recordings could have proved “what I was doing at that time,” and even whether alleged raids of his home actually occurred.
Treholt was convicted of high treason and sentenced to 20 years in prison for spying for the Soviet Union and Iran. He was later pardoned for health reasons.
Views and News staff
