A thirty three year old Bangladeshi male has been charged with severely abusing his teenage wife. The man has been in police custody for two weeks, and has been charged with violating paragraph 219 of the penal code, a paragraph that deals specifically with domestic violence.
Police officers found the young girl dressed in a burkha in her husbands flat after they had responded to a fire call in a tenement block in Oslo in June. The couple are originally from Bangladesh, but the husband has a Norwegian passport. Police officers brought the girl to the emergency unit after they discovered her. According to Aftenposten, the girl initially refused to take off her burkha at the hospital. However after being encouraged by medical staff, she finally agreed and reveal several marks and bruises on her face. The girl explained that she had slipped and fallen while walking. The police gave little credence to this, but even so, chose to send her back home to her husband.
Fled.
The girl finally ran away from her husband towards the end of August. She was then taken to a women’s shelter in the eastern part of Norway. On August 30th she was accompanied by lawyer, Monica Lindbeck, to Oslo police station, where she lodged a formal complaint against her husband. The complaint contains grotesk descriptions of abuse and humiliation. According to Lindbeck, the girl has told police officers during interrogations that her husband on several occasions tied her arms and ankles, and hoisted her up from the floor by using a rope tied to the ceiling. The husband has also hit her on the head and stomped on her face and throat. He has also whipped her soles and forced her to walk afterwards. The girl is severely traumatized, says Lindbeck.
Deny charges.
The thirty three year old denies that he has subjected his wife to this treatment, but during a court appearance he admitted to hitting her.
- It is my opinion that her version of events is untruthful. All you have to do is ask the police, and they can verify this, said the thirty three year old to Aftenposten last night.
Police attorney Anne Christine Stoltz, does not wish to comment on the specific details in the girls complaint. But she confirms that the girl’s statement, in addition to marks and bruises brought on by severe violence, has led the police to take this case very seriously. Several sources claim that the girl has been subjected to severe violence for a long time.
The thirty three year old was arrested in the beginning of September, and charged with violating the so called “family violence paragraph”, a paragraph that has just recently been upgraded. He may face up to six years in jail if he’s found guilty.
Fake papers.
Police hasn’t yet managed to establish the true identity of the girl. She arrived in Norway with fake ID papers which give her date of birth as 1985. Several sources Aftenposten have been in contact with claim the girl is much younger. Police attorney Stoltz confirms that recent tests carried out by the police pinpoint her age to 17 or 18. The thirty three year old married the girl in the beginning of 2005, and she arrived in Norway through a family reunification earlier this year. Police is trying to establish whether the girl was under 16 when they got married, something that can lead the thirty three year old to be charged with marrying a minor. The maximum jail sentence for this is four years. Stoltz states that at the present stage there’s no reason to widen the charge. Police are currently working on gathering more evidence. Lawyer Monica Lindbeck intend to send a recommendation to the police where she ask that photos taken of the girl at the emergency unit are confiscated and used as evidence.
Disturbing details
This story was broken by Human Rights service (HRS). HRS reveal several disturbing details. Defense lawyer Andreas Heffermehl, who represents the thirty three year old, says that HRS has presented information that haven’t been uncovered during police investigation, nor that he’s familiar with.
According to HRS, the thirty three year old is a university graduate, and a public servant. In other words a person that Norwegian authorities would label as a moderate muslim.
From: News from Norway
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