UPDATE:
This blog post was written a month ago, just after the incident had happened and before the (corrupt) court had begun. I admit that I am very harsh in this post, but it is a reflection of my own opinions at that point in time. As I clearly state several times, this is my personal thoughts and not necessarily the truth. The two Norwegians have changed their story a few times since I wrote this post, so the chain of events that I describe might not match their current story.
I do not consider the court as valid, it was not fair and in a legal sense I still see the two Norwegians as NOT GUILTY. However, my personal opinion is that there are way more factors indicating that the Norwegians committed the murder, than any other explanation.
CNN posted this article on their front page today: Norwegians Sentenced to Death in Congo
By first glance, this can look like the ultimate backpacker travel adventure gone awfully wrong. The story according to the Norwegian travelers in their late 20’s, is that they were traveling through the jungle in the DR Congo, when they were attacked by the local militia who robbed them and killed their driver. The Norwegians ran away with bullets shooting through the air all around them. They were lucky to survive, but later they found themselves arrested and accused for armed robbery and homicide. Later the charge was expanded to include espionage and much more. They feel prejudged by the local community and the victims family. And for a long time I agreed with them.
When this story reached the headlines in Norway, people where asking question like “What would two Norwegians do in the Congo’s jungle anyways?”, assuming that they must have some fishy motivations for being there. I didn’t even find this question very relevant, I just assumed they were a couple of regular backpackers who happened to be a little too careless in a dangerous and corrupt country like the DR Congo. And I felt extremely sorry for their horribly bad luck. But after reading more about their background, I am starting to really doubt their innocence after all.
First of all, they were not just traveling. They had moved to Uganda a couple of years earlier to start a private “security company” called The Directors Special Uganda. They both have always been interested in the military, weapons and had talked about starting a private military contractor company for several years. This is apparently what they were doing in Uganda. When I first heard about this story I prejudged the local militia, now I can admit that I am completely willing to prejudge these two Norwegians.
I do apologize if I am wrong, but to me this almost looks like two guys who have dreamed of killing their whole life, and finally thought they had the opportunity to get away with it in the deep jungle of the Congo. How would anyone find them in this corrupt, uncontrolled country? It’s the perfect plan; cross the border unseen without paper trails like visa etc., (which they did), hire a driver to drive you into the deep jungle. Shoot him, hide the weapon, drive his car back to the border and go home. I know that I could be totally wrong, but at the moment I find this just as plausible as any other explanation.
My prejudgment is based on more than just their background. They had pictures on them where they were posing with the shotgun that killed the driver, they were posing with a big smile while cleaning up the bloody seat where the driver had been shot. They had crossed the border into the Congo illegally, smuggling their sawed off shotgun with them. When you gather all the information, seeing how their old coworkers describe them, and use some logical sense; to me there is almost no doubt that they are guilty as charged and crazy as hell. guilty of murder.
What do you think? Please share your thoughts, knowledge or opinions!
I think you dont have all the facts and are easily mislead by PR stunts from the Congo military. Yes they were probably doing something fishy in Congo, but their driver probably tried to rob them and was killed in the action. Perhaps even by his own ppl when the robbery went wrong.
Translated article from Norwegian newspaper
The link above shows the picture where one of the Norwegians is cleaning the bloody car seat where the murdered driver was sitting. My question is:
They claim they were robbed by a group of armed people who were shooting after them while they ran away from the car in an intense gunfire. So when did they have time to start cleaning the blood of the car, plus pose and smile for a picture?
I know of Moland and French, and the smiles on their faces are actual reactions when they experience awfull things. Same thing when they hurt them self and when something tragic happens to them.
To those who don`t know them the pictures seems very convincing.
I am Norwegian myself, and I must say that I do not belive the story told by the two accused persons…
I hate to sell the pelt before the bear is shot, but I do think that they will face punishment on all the charges made against them.
I however no not think that the espionage charge is reasonable, seeing how these two guys left the military because: “They didn’t get enough out of it.”
Although, I must say, that after researching this story, I am ashamed that these are two of my fellow countrymen.
The deal about the picture was that they claimed that they developed a method of overcoming shock with humor… I must say, if that’s the case, it backfired as much as possible.
I however do not belive that story, and I felt sick when I saw the picture, and that horrible grin on the face of the one that was cleaning up the mess, that was probably caused by them.
John
it s all bout the money… the so called congolese witnesses knew the norwegians had 400 – 700 dollars..eqiuval to 2 years salary in Congo.. to blame foreigners in a country which have had tense situation with western countries earlier seems to be a safe way to avoid acuusation agianst themselves. ..i have the feeling the “witnesses” plays the “blame the bad white colonist foreigners -card”.. suddenly everone demands money….
as for the picture..you could put any kind of text to it and it would fit anyones opinion. it seems to be used out of its content. ..surviving an attack like they did makes one react in certain ways. humor and the very fact that one still is alive sometimes make you wanna smilie, I imagine
Me too Norwegian.. And by what I’ve heard (norwegian press) it would be impossible to judge these guys of anything. First, they were running a security agency in neighboring Uganda. Privately. They have military background, so I’d call them adventurous, not gun crazy. Then, why would they hire a truck and driver, bring along 2 strangers that coincidentally show up, for a ride into the jungle where they assasinate the driver, leave the two witnesses and escape into the jungle..? Sure, i haven’t seen any proof they did this. More likely the two strangers tried to rob the norwegians. Then the lawyers get the great idea (good one actually, when morale is long gone.. And it shows how desperate you get when there is no reliable social structures around you) to put the blame on the Norwegians. They are accused of espionage on the grounds of holding a map and compass. The gun they were carrying has not yet been verified to be the smoking one. The truckdrivers family is suing for millions of dollars. The truck driver association in congo is suing the norwegian state for millions, and Congo’s state attourney is suing the norwegian state for millions because of “disturbing their stable region”. Haha! Read any other congo-news lately? This case only gives a glimpse of the trouble the congolese people are in. It’s a farse, and although I cant be sure, I’ve seen no evidence, physical nor logical pointing at the two norwegians. They have been interrogated at gunpoint, had little or no translation, and the court is far from anything we might be used to in the “civilized” world. The picture with the one guy “smiling”: look at his eyes, he looks more scared than happy. And by experience, when you are frightened to death you may very well grin, it does not mean you are comfortable. Besides, you would be pretty daft to intentfully produce evidence as you are committing a crime. Any way, I feel sorry for these guys and believe they are innocent tourists until there is any evidence of the other..
First of all. You clearly dont know anything about their background.
“They both have always been interested in the military…two guys who have dreamed of killing their whole life, and finally thought they had the opportunity ”
They have been serving in the Norwegian Army for several years, both in Afghanistan, Libanon and Iraq. To say that they have allways been interested in military and dreamed about killing is awfully wrong.
God knows what they were doing there. If they are guilty of killing the driver doesnt matter. Congo have broken several UN Human Rights, International laws, and also some of their own in the justiceproccess. The two norwegians have been put in a 10feet cell together with 27 criminals for three months. They havnt even got permission to go to the bathroom.
The procecutors evidence doesnt tell more than a reason to be suspicious. The whole courtcase is stupid. The procecutor actually started dancing in the courtroom, as he claimed they should be executed. The norwegians, Joshua French and Tjostolv Moland, had to stand in the courtroom. Their transelator ran away because he was scared for his own security, so the court continued for a week in Congolian language. The norwegians had no clue what the 12 procecutors said to the judges. They dont know what the “vitnesses”, (congolian military informants), is saying.
The congolian military cernal and procecutor actually claimed that our King had sent dem to espionage. The state of Congo claims 3000 MRD $ for rebuilding.. Thats not just stupid, but ruthless..
im just saying. Delete your whole artikkel, or re-write it. Use google language transelator and read the notes from the courtroom at http://www.vg.no
Guilty or not. They desurve a fair trial!
This is a kidnapping and the ransom is now a totally idiotic $500 billion dollars.
It’s pretty obvious that the congolese government has exposed themselves as the liars they are and that this was all about money and no justice. Sorry, but that is now the facts. For christ sake, get these poor two souls out of that living nightmare! Military operation or whatever, just GET THEM OUT!
I guess it’s time for me to respond to some comments here..
I admit that my post was pretty harsh.. I also admitted in the post that I am pre-judging, that I am apologizing if I am wrong, and that I am speaking of how I see this case..
I also agree 100% that they deserve a fair trial. Congo has treated this case in a horrendous way, the Norwegians have been pre-judged (also by me, several times, first as innocent, then as guilty), and a lot of the accusations made against them are ridiculous. They deserve way better treatment than they receive. So does all the other inmates in that prison. Nobody should suffer those conditions..
Then my self defense:
This is a blog post, not a newspaper article. I say, and I make that very clear several times in the entry, that this is all my personal view and opinion of this case.. I have never claimed to be fair, I am not the one to judge their case, I am just sharing my thoughts.
I will not delete or re-write the article, but I might add another one, now that more details have been shared in the media.
And last: I happen to be Norwegian too, and have read every article about this case in VG, Dagbladet and Aftenposten. I have also been reading on several Norwegian blogs and forums, where people who know them have described them as I did. I don’t know what’s true, but the Norwegians have changed their story several times. What I wrote above is the story that they had told in the media at that time. Now their story has changed on several points.
One of you ask for logics: A man is found murdered, and two out of his four passengers have illegally smuggled a sawed off shotgun into the country, later hide this in the forest, take a picture of the dead body and pose smiling as they clean out the blood. They have also started a little underground “military-club”, there is no doubt they are more than average interested in guns and the army. The two remaining passengers were locals who we don’t know much about.
Who would you assume were the murderers in a case like this?
I am not saying I am right, I am just saying what this looks like to me..
You shouldn’t have to defend your viewpoints. You were however asking for other opinions. I agree; it’s all a bit fishy. But logically it does not make sense to me that these two norwegians killed a random, poor driver, in the middle of the jungle and bringing along two other random guys for kicks? If the shotgun is the smoking gun, it would be the key-evidence in this case. But, the fact that they have not done any gunwound-analysis, or presented anything like this as evidence.. well I don’t know. It just doesn’t seem trustworthy to me. The picture with him smiling, once again, I don’t think he looks happy. Personally I’ve esperienced what it’s like to be scared shitless. I lived in central-america for a year (long time ago, as an exchange-student). One night, hanging out with my friends (by the way, none of us carrying guns, or involved in any sorts of military or violent activities) one of the guys got threatened at a nearby gas-station because he was walking two blond girls there (from our party). Minutes later, a car shows up where we are sitting in a nearby park, and the aforementioned guy gets in his car and leaves. Shortly after this there are 6 or seven gunshots close by. We run, smiling and laughing, scared of our lives. The adrenaline gives you a rush. A few hours later, we get in our car to head home. Right around the corner we see our friends car, with bulletholes through the rear window, the trunk, and a broken windscreen. The police was there. In a civilized country I’d stop, worried about my friend. But not in a corrupt country, so we kept driving, afraid of what might happen. But got stopped. The police eventually let us go, because one of us were american, and some american security guards showed up. The newspapers were filled with crazy stories the next few days. I read stories about me killing my friend with an uzi. About my american friend killing our friend with a shotgun. There were headlines for months. We were interrogated for hours, had gunpowdertests (to see if you’ve fired a gun) etc.. We were 12 young kids with the same story. At least, although a corrupt country, they could not charge us without any evidence. And of course there were none, we passed gunpowdertests and everything of course, none of us had ever fired a gun.. But, we were still accused and had to flee the country. A friend had been killed, and the press was still accusing the “whites” for the crime. If this was Congo, I’d probably get sued for 10 million dollars and get locked up for life with no fair trial. And that night my friend got killed, I had to drop by his father to tell him what had happened. It was the most terrifying night of my life. I was certain I too would be killed. That night I smiled alot. Not a happy smile. But the smile you might give, when you say sorry, there’s nothing I can do about it, and the smile you might give as you say “Shit, that was close..” People who do not know me, ogr my friends, might question our stories. When visiting the same country later, I’ve been threatened by “friends” who believe the newspaper stories.. It might color my judgement, but I believe one is innocent until proved otherwise. Especially in a country like Congo. Don’t forget. This is a country where there is alot of crime, and little law. People there are deperate to get out of their misery. Read news from Congo, and realize that this case is miniscule compared to what is really going down over there. When the lawyers compare these two norwegians to the Lockerbie-bomber and Saddam Hussein, one must realize that this probably is nothing but a moneygame.
Although feeling sorry for these guys, I do hate guns, and I detest what they do. I do however think the 2 random guys on that truck had a much better motive for killing than the two norwegians: Money.
Thanks for sharing an interesting story. I agree with you; in a legal sense one is innocent unless proven guilty. So, by all means, I do not want these to men arrested without a fair trial. Which also means that they should be free men, rather than going through the suffering they are at the moment. We don’t know if they are guilty or not, yet.
But back to the logics: Why did it make sense that the other passengers killed the driver? Do you really think that they planned to kill the driver, then blame the Norwegians and sue them for billions of dollars? I have never heard of anything similar before. If anything, it would make way more sense that the driver and the passengers worked together on robbing the Norwegians, and the Norwegians killed the driver in self defense with the shotgun they just happened to have smuggled into the country.
When we know this is a possible consequence of going to Africa, is it really worth it?
I am trying really hard to find a good reason why to have any thing what so ever to do with this god awefull continent and i come up with none. Guess they got some good spices and stuff, but i am pretty sure we can produce that somewhere else.
Leave the circus to itself.
My BF is a norwegian and he’s been following this story for a while now and today we found out that the court find them guilty
i think there are so many questions that need to be answered and yes one of them is what the hell are they doing inside that country?
but also where are the evidence that they did the crime?
as far as i know there is no evidence and every congolese involve in this case are just demanding millions and millions of money from the norwegian government, which makes you doubt their intention and the case itself.
for the author i think its so bad for you to prejudge those two norwegian with so little facts in your hand, i would say you heard too much of the propaganda of the congolese government.
Here is a video of what the norwegians claim is training of “actors for a tourist program”..
http://www.vg.no/nyheter/utenriks/artikkel.php?artid=594471
Anyone still think they’re innocent?
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many pp wonder why war doen’t stop in congo, the answer is that cong is rich in minerals,some European countries and the USA dont want to let go. They have been using neighbouring countries to defeat congo. they send weapons to Rwanda and Uganda, that was the job of these two Norwegians. they were sent by their government. i feel sorry for the congolese population
Thanks for the comment.
I am sure they were not sent by the government, that’s a false rumor. I think they were playing their own little game, which finally caught up with them.