#MeeToo: Sandstø withdraws – more on Riise

Julia Sandstø whistleblowerJulia Sandstø. Photo: Baard Fiksdal / nho.no

Sandstø withdraws from KrFU in protest after alerts

Julia Sandstø (20) withdraws from all positions in KrFU. She believes that she is not believed after she presented her story of sexual harassment.

 

On Friday there was an extraordinary country council meeting in the Christian Democrats Youth Party (KrFU) on the handling of Julia Sandstø’s notice of sexual harassment in the party. After the meeting, Sandstø chose to step down.

To NRK, she tells her that she did not feel that she was believed at the meeting and that the party’s leadership would not provide her with the appology she believes she is entitled to.

– I have been treated extremely badly. That is why I withdraw from the party in protest. I can not be a member of a party that does not side with the whistle blowers. KrF is no longer my party, says Sandstø to the National Broadcaster.

On the youth party’s website, KrfU leader Martine Tønnessen writes the following after the meeting:

“I have experienced this as an open and honest meeting concerning a difficult matter. Sexual harassment should not occur in our organization, and we regret that Julia Sandstø has been exposed to that. We will continue to work on improving our policies and other measures to prevent this from happening again.

Sandstø was until now Deputy in the youth party’s central committee and group leader in Vestby municipality. Prior to that, she was the county leader for KrFU in Akershus.

Before the meeting on Friday, General Secretary, Otto Galtung, told NTB that the person who was warned against withdrew from all his positions in the party in 2016. To NRK, Sandstø says that the man still has a position in KrF.

The Young Conservatives was notified of sexual intercourse with a drunken 16-years-old

In 2014, the Young conservatives received a notice that former leader Tonning Riise had sexual intercourse with a nine year younger girl. The case was not followed up, according to Aftenposten.

– It’s true that we both had been drinking alcohol and that we had sex. It should never have happened and I’m sorry. I refer to Secretary-General in the Conservative Party, John-Ragnar Aarset for further comments, Kristian Tonning Riise confirms in an email to Aftenposten.

The episode occurred during a county council meeting in 2014. The girl was then 16-years-old and Riise 25.

Til avisa forteller jenta at hun ikke ønsket å ha seksuell omgang med ham, men at hun var veldig beruset og ikke i stand til å si verken ja eller nei. Afterwards she blamed herself and felt ashamed.

The incident was immediately notified to then Secretary General, Christopher Wand, but the case was not followed up.

In a text message to VG Wand writes the following:

– I disagree with the allegation that nothing happened after the notice of concern. The matter could in hindsight have been handled better, and I will report in detail how I handled this to the Leadership of the Party organizations.

The episode that occurred at the county council meeting, in addition to several other episodes, led to several county groups seeking to find an alternative candidate to Riise as leader in 2014. That was not successful, and three months after the event he became a leader of the youth organization.

 

© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today