Fredrik Ludvig Fasting Torgersen (1 October 1934 – 18 June 2015) was a Norwegian man who was convicted of murder in 1958 in a much-debated case, and released from prison in 1974. Serving 16 years in prison before being released, he continuously claimed his innocence. In 2013 Bjørg Njaa, a daughter of a judge in the 1958 trial said that her father was prejudiced against Torgersen even before being assigned to the trial. In 2014 he was denied access to official recordings of then leader of the Norwegian Board of Forensic Medicine, Bjørnar Olaisen, answering to

Criminal Cases Review Commission The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) is the statutory body responsible for investigating alleged miscarriages of justice in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. It was established by Section 8 of the Criminal Appeal Act 1995 and bega ...

.Fasting får ikke utlevert lydbånd
asting will not receive audio tape/ref> Torgersen died on 18 June 2015, a week after his sixth call for a resumption of his case. At the time of his death, he was hospitalized with cancer.

The 1958 trial

In December 1957, 16-year-old girl Rigmor Johnsen was raped and murdered in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...

. Fredrik Fasting Torgersen, then 23, a small-time criminal with several prior convictions for theft and violence, was arrested and charged with the crime. On 16 June 1958, despite very little evidence connecting him to the crime scene, Torgersen was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. This marked the beginning of one of the most controversial cases in Norwegian criminal history. Torgersen went on to serve 16 years before being released from prison in 1974. A 2013 article in the Norwegian newspaper ''

Aftenposten ( in the masthead; ; Norwegian for "The Evening Post") is Norway's largest printed newspaper by circulation. It is based in Oslo. It sold 211,769 copies in 2015 (172,029 printed copies according to University of Bergen) and estimated 1.2 milli ...

'' asserted that "the

expert witness An expert witness, particularly in common law countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States, is a person whose opinion by virtue of education, training, certification, skills or experience, is accepted by the judge as ...

in 1958 said that the bite mark hat the killer left on one of the breasts of the victimwith full certainty pointed to Torgersen as the murderer. - The other evidence in the case dealt with conifer needle leaves (''barnåler''),

excrement Feces ( or faeces), known colloquially and in slang as poo and poop, are the solid or semi-solid remains of food that was not digested in the small intestine, and has been broken down by bacteria in the large intestine. Feces contain a relat ...

and

police lineup A police lineup (in American English) or identity parade (in British English) is a process by which a crime victim or witness's putative identification of a suspect is confirmed to a level that can count as evidence at trial. The suspect, alo ...

(''vitneutpeking'')".

Calls for resumption of proceedings

His calls for resumption of proceedings were denied by the

Supreme Court of Norway The Supreme Court of Norway ( Norwegian Bokmål: ''(Norges) Høyesterett''; Norwegian Nynorsk: ''(Noregs) Høgsterett''; lit. ‘Highest Court’) was established in 1815 on the basis of section 88 in the Constitution of the Kingdom of Norway, w ...

in 1976 and 2001, and again by the independent Criminal Cases Review Commission (led by Janne Kristiansen) in 2006. In the spring of 2008, in a letter to Minister of Justice Knut Storberget, 279 experts within medicine, odontology, physics, chemistry and other sciences, questioned the evaluation of evidence in courts and requested a review of the use of science in courts to avoid miscarriage of justice. Several public figures in addition to Bjørneboe have claimed that Torgersen is innocent, notably the former chairwoman of the

Norwegian Authors' Union The Norwegian Authors' Union ( no, Den norske Forfatterforening, DnF) is an association of Norwegian authors. It was established in 1893 to promote Norwegian literature and protect Norwegian authors' professional and economic interests. DnF also w ...

Ebba Haslund Ebba Margareta Haslund Halvorsen (12 August 1917 – 10 July 2009) was a Norwegian novelist, writer of short stories, playwright, essayist, children's writer, literary critic, radio speaker and politician. Early and personal life Haslund wa ...

, professor of jurisprudence

Ståle Eskeland Ståle Eskeland (25 August 1943 – 26 December 2015) was a Norwegian jurist. Born in Stavanger, he took the cand.jur. degree in 1970 and the dr.juris degree in 1988. He was an associate professor in the sociology of law for some time, and h ...

and professor of medicine Per Brandtzæg.

The 2010 Criminal Cases Review

On the basis of claims of grave errors in fact and judgment by the Criminal Cases Review Commission, the conviction of Torgersen will be reviewed again in 2009–10.. In 2010, the commission decided to reject the petition. In 2013, Torgersen's lawyer (Jan Tennøe) said that "The commission's rejection in 2010 is not an improvement since this commission consisting of five different members, has referred and used the reasoning from he review of2006 as the foundation for its decision." The conclusions of the Criminal Cases Review Commission (including the one of 2010) says that "the technical evidence still speaks heavily for the guilt of Fredrik Fasting Torgersen. This led to a letter-of-worry to the minister of justice—from 270 researchers within he fields ofnatural sciences and medicine", according to prof. Kristian Gundersen.Synsing i retten - denne uken vant Fredrik Fasting Torgersen en første, liten seier. Saken har avslørt en rettstilstand som ikke er til å leve med.
pining in court - This week Fredrik Fasting Torgersen won a first, small victory. The case has uncovered a state of justice that is unacceptable/ref>

The 2014 decision allowing a retrial relating to the appellate court verdict of 1958

In 2014 "

Verdens Gang ''Verdens Gang'' ("The course of the world"), generally known under the abbreviation ''VG'', is a Norwegian tabloid newspaper. In 2016, circulation numbers stood at 93,883, having declined from a peak circulation of 390,510 in 2002. ''VG'' is n ...

reported that Borgarting appellate court unanimously voided a verdict of the

Oslo District Court Oslo District Court ( no, Oslo tingrett) is a district court located in Oslo, Norway. This court is based at the Oslo Courthouse in the city of Oslo. The court serves the entire city of Oslo and the court is subordinate to the Borgarting Court of ...

, after Torgersen sued the government and the Criminal Cases Review Commission.Østkantgutter blir også 80
"Nylig meldte VG at Borgarting lagmannsrett enstemmig opphevet en dom fra Oslo tingrett etter at Torgersen gikk til søksmål mot staten og Kommisjonen for gjenopptagelse av straffesaker. Opphevelsen gir Torgersen og hans advokat medhold i at lagmannsrettens fellende dom fra 16. juni 1958 kan prøves på nytt og at kommisjonens avslag fra 2006 og 2010 om ikke å gjenoppta saken kan erklæres som ugyldig." The decision by the appellate court says that Torgersen and his lawyer can retry the 16 June 1958 verdict of the appellate court; the riminal Cases ReviewCommission's declining—in 2006 and 2010—has been declared invalid (by the appellate court)", according to

Dagsavisen ''Dagsavisen'' is a daily newspaper published in Oslo, Norway. The former party organ of the Norwegian Labour Party, the ties loosened over time from 1975 to 1999. It has borne several names, and was called ''Arbeiderbladet'' from 1923 to 1997. ...

Legacy

On 1 October 2014, on his 80th birthday, the

festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

,'' Festskrift til Fredrik Fasting Torgersen'' was scheduled to be released, with articles by

Karsten Alnæs Karsten Alnæs (born 29 May 1938) is a Norwegian author, historian, and journalist, who has dual degrees in history and literature from the University of Oslo. He worked as a journalist and taught at the Norwegian School of Journalism. His bibliog ...

, Rune Ottosen,

Jan Erik Vold Jan Erik Vold (born 18 October 1939) is a Norwegian lyric poet, jazz vocal reciter, translator and author. He was a core member of the so-called "''Profil'' generation", the circle attached to the literary magazine ''Profil''. Throughout his care ...

, Per Brandtzæg, Gunnar Nerdrum, Camilla Juell Eide, Nils Erik Lie,

, Peter Normann Waage, Jan Tennøe, Thorvald Steen, and older articles by

Jens Bjørneboe Jens Ingvald Bjørneboe (9 October 1920 – 9 May 1976) was a Norwegian writer whose work spanned a number of literary formats. He was also a painter and a Waldorf school teacher. Bjørneboe was a harsh and eloquent critic of Norwegian society a ...

and

André Bjerke Jarl André Bjerke (30 January 1918 – 10 January 1985) was a Norwegian writer and poet. He wrote a wide range of material: poems (both for children and adults), mystery novels (four of them under the pseudonym Bernhard Borge), essays, and arti ...

.Østkantgutter blir også 80
astend Boys also turn 80/ref>

In popular culture

The case was the subject of a play by author

(''Tilfellet Torgersen'', 'The Torgersen Case'), and Torgersen himself has written several books.

Literature

*"''Rettssikkerhet og fordommer''"

, 2010-12-03,page 5 by Per Brandtzæg). by Per Brandtzæg (Newspaper article) * t is about our rule of law

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Torgersen, Fredrik Fasting 1934 births 2015 deaths 20th-century Norwegian criminals Norwegian male criminals People convicted of murder by Norway Norwegian people convicted of murder Norwegian prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Norway Norwegian male writers Norwegian murderers of children Trials in Norway