Varg is Free! – Authorities Say He’s Not a Terrorist, but will Still be Proscecuted for Thought Crime

Le Monde
July 19, 2013

Varg in 1999.
Varg in 1999.

Extremist Norwegian Kristian Vikernes was released Thursday, July 18, the hearing did not reveal any preparation for a terrorist Attack. However, he will be prosecuted in the criminal court for his writings, which have been deemed to be “incitement to racial hatred.”

The 40-year-old was arrested Tuesday morning with his French wife, Marie Cachet, at their home in Salon-la-Tour, in Corrèze, as part of an investigation based on a suspicion of planning terrorist attacks. Marie was released Wednesday.

”NO TARGET OR PROJECT OR IDENTIFIED”

The Interior Minister, Manuel Valls, had suggested that Vikernes was “likely to commit a major terrorist attack,” while acknowledging that there was “no identified target or project.” He justified the arrest by citing a need “to act before and not after” such an attack.

Vikernes’ Norwegian lawyer, Julien Fressynet, had assured the court on Wednesday that his client was not planning a terrorist event, explaining Vikernes’ purchase of four guns as part of the “philosophy of life” chosen by the couple: survivalism, which centers on the belief that a large-scale disaster, which will require an arsenal in order to survive it, is imminent.

Kristian Vikernes, a Norwegian metal musician also known as Varg Vikernes, moved to France after serving twenty-one years in prison in Norway for a murder he committed in the 1990s.

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Translated by Andrew Anglin.