Another shot at Ueland trial in Morrocco

Another shot at kicking off Ueland murder trial in Morrocco

A third attempt is Thursday being made to begin the trial against the 24 defendants after the murder of Maren Ueland and Louisa Vesterager Jespersen in Morocco.

Norwegian Maren Ueland (28) was murdered along with Danish Louisa Vesterager Jespersen (24) near the village of Imlil in the Atlas Mountains in Morocco on December 17^th, 2018.

The trial after the murders has been postponed twice but is scheduled to resume on Thursday. The Norwegian Embassy Councillor in Morocco informs NTB that the trial, according to their understanding, will begin at noon.

Four men are prosecuted for carrying out or contributing to the murders, a Swiss-Spanish man is accused of training them. 19 men are, in addition, charged with having committed themselves to a terrorist group. In a video, the four main suspects swear allegiance to the extremist group Islamic State (IS).

Ueland Murder suspects under the flag of the Islamic State

Four suspects in the Ueland/Jespersen murder case poses under the flag of the Islamic State. (Screendump / Twitter)

Ueland/Jespersen trial postponed twice already

The trial against the 24 first started on May 2^nd in the city of Salé in Morocco. It was then postponed due to lack of defence lawyers.

On May 16^th the defendants appeared before the court, but after just over an hour it became clear that the trial was to be postponed once again.

Support Lawyer for the family of Louisa Vesterager Jespersen, Khaled Fataoui, believes that the Moroccan state, which is responsible for security in the country, is liable to the family. Additional time for preparation was thus needed.

Considerable claim for compensation

The family’s lawyer promotes a large compensation claim on behalf of the survivors, according to NRK.

“I am not at liberty to divulge the amount, but what I can say is that it is sizeable. We have already submitted the claim to the court, but it is confidential,” Fataoui tells the Norwegian Public Broadcaster.

Support lawyer for Maren Ueland’s family, Ragnar Falck Paulsen, informs NTB that he is still working to get a Moroccan lawyer in place for them.

Marit Ueland’s family has not yet decided whether they want to demand compensation, as the Danish family has done, Norwegian TV2 reports.

Another shot at kicking off Ueland murder trial in Morrocco

Ueland/Jespersen trial postponed twice already

Considerable claim for compensation

Read Also

Related Articles