Strip-searches during remand in custody
Supreme Court judgment 28 May 2021, HR-2021-1155-A, (case no. 20-178462STR-HRET), criminal case, appeal against judgment.
A (Counsel Halvard Helle), B (Counsel John Christian Elden), C (Counsel Øivind Sterri) v. The Public Prosecution Authority (Counsel Hugo Henstein)
Justices: Webster, Falkanger, Bergh, Østensen Berglund, Thyness
Three accused persons in an extensive drug case had, during their time in custody, been subjected to routine strip-searches a large number of times, see section 28 of the Execution of Sentences Act, until such routine searches were banned by the Directorate of Norwegian Correctional Service in 2020. The Supreme Court found that Article 93 subsection 2 of the Constitution and Article 3 of the ECHR had been violated on the part of all three persons. Central to the assessment was that the strip-searches had been carried out on a purely routine basis. No individual assessments had been carried out related to each of the accused or to the circumstances in each case, nor related to the conditions in the prison. The convicted persons were compensated for the mistreatment in the form of extra deduction for time spent in custody on remand, of one day per two illegal strip-searches.