AROD Human Rights Campaign

AROD had a sale of cannabis outside the main police station in Oslo on 11 september, 2021, and it is heading for treatment in the European Court of Human Rights. Life Liberty Books follows the quest for justice with a blog. Here you will find case correspondence.

Argument to the European Court

A RIGHT TO DRUGS - The European Courts Responsibility for Human Rights in Drug Policy - Roar Mikalsen

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After 60 years of panic in drug policy, society is waking up to the fact that punishment is incompatible with basic values and principles on which the rule of law is based, and a paradigm shift is happening.

This manuscript explains the connection between public panic, human rights abuses, and the arbitrary persecution of the past. The connection is found in the scapegoat mechanism, which has been known for 40 years in criminology and sociology of law, and in the last 30 years lawyers have recognised the same.

The book not only documents the conflict between politicians and experts but shows that the traditional arguments for prohibition are poor reasons for treating cannabis differently than alcohol. Instead, the questions raised by the rights-oriented debate reveal the parallels to race, homosexuality, and vagrancy laws and that drug prohibition is incompatible with the Western legal tradition.

With civil disobedience, therefore, a battle for rights takes place. A historic settlement in the European Court awaits, and through 100 questions, a confused legal landscape is clarified.

The case is moving forward in the Norwegian system of justice, and this document to the court frames the human rights argument as well as the legal proceedings.

Several ministers are summoned to testify, and AROD is looking forward to an orderly process where constitutional considerations are put first.

The police attorney does not wish to allow evidence that would support allegations of human rights violations in AROD's civil disobedience case to be presented in court. Nevertheless, It is the court's task to present an effective remedy, and this document elaborates on the importance of the evidence.

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PRE-TRIAL DEVELOPMENT

The Norwegian court has decided that the Minister of Justice, the Minister of Health, and other key witnesses in charge of drug policy shall not be compelled to testify before the court.

Nevertheless, it is the responsibility of the state to justify punishment, and key questions remain to be answered.

AROD will continue to hold authority to account, and here are our questions:

QUESTIONS TO KEY WITNESSES

The case was processed by the District Court on 1. June 2022. Arguing that the business of the court was to look at the law and not at the relationship to human rights, the Judge refused to let the defense present any witnesses, documentation, or documentary evidence in support of our claim that there is a connection between moral panic, human rights violations and the arbitrary persecution of the past.

The decision of the District Court (Norwegian)

This decision has been sent to the Court of Appeals. The defence holds that the right to fair trial and effective remedy has been breached, that it takes a human rights analysis to decide whether punishment is just, and that the Court of Appeals must reject the decision of the District Court.

The brief to the Court of Appeals (Norwegian)

On 26. October 2022, the Court of Appeals decided that the appeal was without merit, and that no further action should be taken by the court.

The decision of the Court of Appeals (Norwegian)

This decision has been appealed to the Supreme Court. The defense upholds that the right to a fair trial and effective remedy dictates that the evidence for human rights violations is accepted by the court, that a human rights analysis must be done, and that this is the only way to preserve the rule of law.

On 20. December 2022, the Norwegian Supreme Court failed to provide an effective remedy. The Judges accepted the reasoning of the appeals court, which held that it does not matter if the drug law violates human rights, and the case will be appealed to the European Court of Human Rights.

The decision of the Supreme Court (Norwegian)

The prosecution, in claiming that "it is not the proper area of the court to consider whether the Nowegian drug policy is wise or fair as seen from a moral perspective", has rejected the weight of 200 years of legal development in the area of Norwegian human rights protection. AROD therefore has complained to the Director of the Police, the Director of Public Prosecutions, and the Standing Committee on Scrutiny and Constitutional Affairs:

NEW DEVELOPMENT

The Alliance for Rights-Oriented Drug Policies

Your Rights Watch

AROD Human Rights Campaign

Argument to the European Court

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