From: <a href="http://www.aftenposten.no/spesial/wikileaksdokumenter/article3950774.ece">Aftenposten</a>

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6/3/2008 15:35
C O N F I D E N T I A L OSLO 000303
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR S/W CI AND AF/C; COPENHAGEN FOR LEGAT E.O. 12958: 
DECL: 06/03/2018 
TAGS: PREL, ASEC, KCRM, NO 
SUBJECT: NORWAY: A POTENTIAL HAVEN FOR WAR CRIMINALS? 
Classified By: DCM Kevin M. Johnson for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)

1. (C)
Summary. In a June 2 meeting, the head of Norway´s Criminal
Investigation Service noted the constraints on pursuing war
crime cases in Norway. Norway is still investigating the
Kabuga case, but the source placing him in Norway is not very
credible. The conversation highlighted the lack of
coordination within the GON on terrorism and indicated no
Norwegian terrorist watch list exists. End Summary.

War Criminals 
-------------

2. (C)
In a meeting with the Ambassador on June 2, Odd Olsen Ingero,
the Director of Kripos (National Criminal Investigation
Service), reviewed Norway´s approach to identifying and
prosecuting war criminals. He noted that Norway only checks
names of proposed citizens against various Interpol and other
war criminal name lists. Checks are not made of asylum seekers
or at other stages prior to application for citizenship.
Kripos, which was given the responsibility for war criminals
in 2005, has a 10 person team working on the issue. This unit
will increase to 18 staff members this summer. However, until
then staffing and other resource constraints greatly limit
what Kripos can do. At the moment, they have 100 open war
criminal investigations, including 19 cases where the Rwandan
government has identified alleged war criminals living in
Norway.

3. (C)
Turning to the specifics of two recent cases, Ingero explained
that the case of the Rwandan fugitive, Felicien Kabuga,
remains open as they are still investigating whether he was
ever in Norway as alleged in an interview posted on an
internet site. Although they have not reached a conclusion,
the webmaster for the site is well known to the GON and has
little credibility with Kripos. In the other case, Ingero
confirmed newspaper accounts of the first ever GON extradition
of a war criminal in May when Norway sent Damir Sireta, a
Croatian national, to Serbia pursuant to a national war crime
warrant.  Sireta had been living in Norway under his real name
for nine years before his arrest.

Terrorism 
---------

4. (C)
In discussing these cases and trafficking in persons cases, it
became clear that Kripos does not cross check people it is
investigating against any terrorism lists. Indeed, Norwegian
terrorist watch lists do not seem to exist. (Note: See septel
on Norway and the HSPD-6 which will discuss this further.)
Coordination with PST (Police Security Service), which is
responsible for countering terrorism, is at best ad hoc based
on individual officer´s initiative and discretion.

Comment 
-------

5. (C)
This meeting reinforced our view that Norway is a relatively
easy place for war criminals to reside, at least until they
want to apply for Norwegian citizenship. Although the
political pressures are forcing Kripos to ramp up its war
crimes unit, prosecutions are still a ways off. Similarly,
Norwegian coordination and action to counter terrorists is
also limited.

WHITNEY
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