Justice in Norway releases the son of Princess Mette-Marit, who is seriously ill, from custody
On Monday, Norwegian justice ordered the release of Marius Borg Hoiby, the son of Norway's crown princess, Mette-Marit, to be with his seriously ill mother, pending the verdict for rape and acts of violence of which he is accused, reports News.ro citing the France Presse agency.
The prosecution immediately appealed the decision, and the 29-year-old will remain behind bars until an appeals court reviews the case.
Born from a relationship prior to the marriage of his mother, Mette-Marit, to Crown Prince Haakon, Hoiby has been in pre-trial detention since early February.
During his trial, which took place between February 3 and March 19, he had to answer to 40 charges, rejecting the most serious ones, namely four rapes against women who were unable to resist and repeated violence against a former partner.
The verdict is expected next Monday.
In recent months, the condition of his mother, Princess Mette-Marit, who suffers from an incurable lung disease, has deteriorated significantly, to the point where doctors have put her on the waiting list for a delicate lung transplant operation.
“Being locked up when I know my mother feels so bad is unbearable,” Hoiby was quoted by NRK radio as saying at a hearing for the release request at an Oslo court on Monday.
In its decision, the court considered in particular that “maintaining him in detention would constitute (…) a very serious injustice to Hoiby, but also to his mother, considering the difficult situation in which he is currently”.
At his trial for rape and other crimes, the prosecution sought a seven-year, seven-month prison sentence against Hoiby, who is not an official member of the Norwegian royal house. However, the case has tarnished the Crown's image and adds to the scandal caused by revelations about the frequent correspondence and sometimes intimate tone that Mette-Marit and American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein maintained between 2011 and 2014.
