20 October 2006
Tore Tvedt, the founder of the Norwegian neo-Nazi group Vigrid, has been sentenced to a suspended 45-day prison term for anti-Semitic comments he made in 2003 which were published by a daily newspaper. "The Jews are not people, they are parasites that shall be cleaned out," Tvedt told "Verdens Gang" in July 2003. Tvedt, 63, had already been convicted several times for assault, unlawful ownership of weapons and incitement to racism. He founded Vigrid in 1994. The group casts itself as an "ethnic and religious community" inspired by Nordic mythology. "We want to take power, get rid of the Jews and remove all foreigners from our country. The Jews are the main enemy, they have killed our people, they are evil murderers," Tvedt said, according to VG. Hokksund district court in southeast Norway ruled that due to the extremely discriminatory nature of the comments, Tvedt could not use the principle of freedom of expression to defend them. Tvedt said he was misquoted and said he would lodge an appeal. Prosecutors had demanded a three-month suspended prison sentence.
