Sabotage against political party – case closed

Erik Strand, 28.02.2026

In this commnetary, one can read about a case where Norwegian police and prosecutors fail to prosecute vandalism against the electoral campaign material of a Norwegian political party, even though the culprits bragged publicly about the deed.

In May 2025, the Norwegian political party Fred og Rettferdighet (FOR), “Peace and Justice”, paid for political ads on Oslo’s subways. The message was “No to 85 mill. kroner to war in Ukraine, spend the money on welfare”. The message created controversy, and some people even vandalized the posters, resulting in FOR choosing to terminate the contract with the Subway company.

The people behind the vandalism filmed the act and bragged about it in prime time on the Norwegian state run TV channel, describing the message of this political party as one they were entitled to sabotage.

FOR reported the vandalism to the police, which shelved the case. FOR appealed the decision to shelve the case to Statsadvokaten. Now, in February 2026, Statsadvokaten has upheld the decision to shelve the case. Statsadvokaten justified the decision in a highly dubious way. Statsadvocaten writes:

“The suspects’ right to take down posters with political views can also be said to be at the core of their freedom of expression. Weighed against the party’s right to express its political views in public without interference, it is therefore not obvious that an investigation could provide evidentiary clarification of the objective and subjective basis for criminal liability. On this basis, one finds, beyond any doubt, that the dismissal should be maintained.”

This is Norway in 2026 – sabotage and vandalism directed towards a legal political party is not prosecuted, it is even justified by the prosecutor as legitimate exercise of freedom of expression.