Film company may not use secret audio recording from a criminal case
Supreme Court order 2 November 2022, HR-2022-2106-A, (case no. 22-059426STR-HRET), criminal case, appeal against order.
Indie Film AS (Counsel Jon Wessel-Aas), The Association of Norwegian Editors (intervener) (Counsel Halvor Manshaus), A (Counsel John Christian Elden) v.
The State represented by the Ministry of Justice and Public Security (The Office of the Attorney General represented by Lisa-Mari Moen Jünge)
A film company making a documentary regarding a criminal case in the Court of Appeal, wanted to use a private audio recording of the convicted person's statement and of the defence counsel's pleading. The case concerned bodily harm towards a foreign woman who was visiting the convicted person together with her husband. Her husband was first charged with attempted homicide towards the convicted person, but the case was dropped as he had acted in self-defence. A unanimous Supreme Court found that section 131a of the Courts of Justice Act had to be interpreted to mean that any use of recordings from criminal cases either on the radio or on TV requires the court's consent, even if the recording was not originally made with the purpose of such use. A majority of three justices also found, like the Court of Appeal, that there were no special reasons for allowing publication, see section 131a subsection 2 of the Courts of Justice Act. Privacy considerations – the consideration for the aggrieved person and her husband – were given decisive weight. The appeal against the Court of Appeal's decision was dismissed. Dissenting opinions 3-2.
Areas of law: Procedural law, section 131a of the Courts of Justice Act, human rights, Article 10 of the ECHR, Article 100 of the Constitution.
Key paragraphs: 43, 55, 68, 73, 75, 92 and 95
Justices: Øie, Noer, Bull, Bergh, Østensen Berglund