A member of Norway’s Sami Parliament (Sametinget) resigned his post this week as a member of its government, after he was taken into police custody and jailed for at least the next two weeks. He’s charged with being in possession of material portraying sexual assaults on children and child pornography.
Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) reported that Mikkel Eskil Mikkelsen, age 35, has admitted to the charges against him in the local court for Salten and Lofoten in Nordland, Northern Norway. He’s also charged with having shared or acquired access to such material.
Mikkelsen has been among the Sami community’s top politicians, representing the Norske Samers Riksforbund (NSR) at the Sami Parliament in Karasjok since 2017. He’s most recently been a Sametingsråd, equivalent to a government minister for the Sami, in charge of youth, education, research, diversity and LHBTQI+ issues.
Sametinget’s President Silje Karine Muotka told NRK she was “completely shocked” by the police charges against Mikkelsen. Criminal defendants are usually not publicly identified in Norway unless they’re convicted, but NRK made an exception in this case because of Mikkelsen’s position as an elected politician with a public role and responsibility. NRK determined that the public therefore has a right to know about eventual violations of the law.
NewsinEnglish.no staff
