Politicians were red-faced and pointing fingers Tuesday after the identities of armed robbers caught in the midst of another major heist became known. All have long criminal records and several were out on prison leave under Norway's liberal criminal justice system.

A rising crime rate in Norway is raising questions about a system that doles out relatively mild jail terms and then lets convicts out on leave after serving a third of their sentence.

Lars Harnes of the motorcycle gang Bandidos, for example, was serving time for torture, sexual assault and a string of earlier robberies when he was granted prison leave last week, reports newspaper Aftenposten. He used the leave to take part in the armed robbery of money couriers at the Aker Brygge waterfront complex in Oslo early Monday.

With him were two other convicts, Daniel de Linde and Petter Tharaldsen. De Linde, 25, is a right-wing extremist with string of convictions for assault, shootings, smuggling and robbery. He was out on prison leave when he allegedly took part in the armed robbery of money couriers for Nordea Bank in Oslo's Grunerløkka district in April 2003.

Tharaldsen, meanwhile, was sentenced to 21 months in prison in 2001 for an attempted bank robbery and later was arrested for a money courier robbery in December 2002. That case is due to come up in court in October.

Justice Minister Odd Einar Dørum, who earlier has been criticized for being mild on crime, called Tuesday for a report on why Harnes was granted prison leave. He told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) Tuesday that he wanted to be sure the rules were followed.

He stressed that liberal rules for prison leave were recently tightened, adding that the government wants "to differentiate between those (convicts) who behave well and those who abuse the trust they're granted."

Bondevik 'disappointed'

Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik, who shook hands with Harnes at an anti-violence conference in 1999, said it was "disappointing" that someone who expressed a desire to give up a life of crime "is again involved in serious crime."

Bondevik called a recent wave of violent robberies "upsetting," and claimed his government would "strengthen its fight against violence and crime."

One key problem over which the politicians have little control, however, is what Norwegians call "rettspraksis," or court precedence. Few judges in Norway hand out the maximum jail sentences allowed under the law, while a lack of prison space allows convicts to go free while waiting for their terms to begin.

Via Aftenposten News in English. Photo: Heiko Junge / SCANPIX

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