The Icelandic government has admitted to a violation against fourteen people in cases that have gone before the European Court of Human Rights. Fréttablaðið first covered the verdict. Vilhjálmur H. Vilhjálmsson is the lawyer of most of the people. Each of the cases ends with the government’s declaration of infringement, in addition to 4,000 EUR being paid to each of the plaintiffs in legal costs. Each person will also have the option of requesting the reopening of their case before a reopening court.
In addition to these fourteen plaintiffs, the government has settled cases with two more people. They are Atli Helgason, who wanted to regain his rights as a lawyer, which he lost when he was convicted of manslaughter, and Gunnlaugur Briem, who was convicted of tax offenses.
What all these cases share, is that they were brought due to the illegal appointment of judges at the Court of Appeals. There had been a ruling in each of the cases, by the then-illegal court.
Among the plaintiffs are Fjölnir Guðsteinsson and Eldin Skoko, both of whom were convicted of rape. Jens Guðmundsson, former investigating police officer, was charged for work offence and Ottó Örn Þórðarson for smuggling amphetamine. Fréttablaðið also reports that all the applicants now can demand readmission of their cases. It is still unclear who among the plaintiffs intends to do so.
This article was originally published in Icelandic by Katrín Heiða Guðjónsdóttir.