UPDATED: Police have charged several persons within Norway’s Roma community with attempted murder following a bloody attack on one of the community’s leading figures, René Karoli. One suspect is in custody but others remain at large.
Karoli and another man believed to be his son were brutally stabbed and beaten earlier this week in an attack at a bingo parlor in Oslo’s Torshov district. Police believe the attack is part of ongoing rivalry and conflicts among various Roma families. Karoli himself has earlier said his life has been in danger.
Police have described the attack as particularly violent and brutal, involving an axe, knives and a sword, and it was followed by a second attack on them after they’d been rushed to the emergency clinic Legevakten. Both men were critically injured and remain under heavy guard at Ullevål University Hospital, but are expected to survive their wounds.
Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) reported Thursday that a court in Oslo granted a request from police who wanted to keep their one arrested suspect in jail for at least four weeks, in full isolation for the first two. His defense attorney said he would appeal the four-week incarceration. The remand hearing Thursday afternoon was also conducted under heavy security, with armed police in and around the courthouse.
newsinenglish.no staff
