On 9 April 2018, the same date as Hitler’s Germany occupied Norway in 1940, three men from the Nordic Resistance Movement (NRM) were caught hanging banners and swastika flags outside Gestapo’s previous HQ in Kristiansand in the south of Norway. The building is now the centre for peace and human rights.
In June this year the men were exonerated from any wrongdoing. The court of appeal deemed the actions not to fall under the penal code´s paragraph about hate speech- or action. The court decided that according to the law the actions were not aimed ´at a particular group´ [sic]. The prosecutor didn’t appeal to the supreme court and the decision has brought strong reactions especially from the Antirasistisk senter (centre for Anti-racism) who has brought the case to the attention of the UN´s Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD).
Ervin Kohn from Antirasistisk senter noted that the verdict gave the green light for racism.
