Police Found Guilty of Violating Rights of Icelander during Falun Gong Protests against Jiang Zemin in 2002

(Clearwisdom.net) The Icelandic police were today found guilty of illegally arresting a man in the summer of 2002 and restricting his freedom of expression. The government was made to pay the man compensation. His lawyer thinks that three other men who were arrested at the same time will also be compensated.

On the 15th of June 2002, Einar Orn Eidsson was arrested at Geysir in Haukadalur along with three of his friends, allegedly for taking part in a protest related to Chinese president Jiang Zemin's visit to Iceland. The protest targeted the Chinese government's human rights violations against Falun Gong. The men were arrested a little before 3 p.m., put into a police car and driven away from Geysir. They were set free 75 minutes later, at 4:15. The verdict states that the men had been at the place reserved for protestors when the arrest took place, but they had not violated any of the police's instructions since they were not given any instructions, and that the arrest was sudden, without any notice. The verdict states that an arrest and deprivation of freedom is a serious action against a person and that it should be avoided as much as possible. Moderation was not practiced and thereby the police broke the law by this arrest.

Einar Orn received a phone call and 3 threatening mobile phone messages from a policeman's phone a few days after the arrest. The policeman denied in court having been responsible for the phone messages, but the court's verdict stated that the messages were of a kind that a policeman had to be responsible for them, "whoever it was." As stated in the County Court, Einar Orn says he thinks that the verdict will serve as a precedent to govern the police's behavior in the future.

Mr. Orn stated that he was doing this, among other things, to establish a precedent so that the police cannot just trample on the lawful rights of citizens.

The verdict granted Einar 90.000 kronur (about $1,500) as compensation and he says he will donate the money go to a good charitable cause. Three of Einar's friends that were also arrested in the same operation also brought charges against the police for illegal arrest, and their lawyer says that most likely they will also be compensated by the government.

His lawyer, Sigridur Rut, stated, "Yes of course this verdict will be a model...so to speak.. a conclusion in one case sets a precedent to settle the other ones in the same manner."