The Icelandic state has acknowledged that five Icelanders who were sentenced in the aftermath of the 2008 banking collapse did not receive a fair trial. The European Court of Human Rights was set to rule on the five cases this morning but has struck the applications out of its list of cases as a result of friendly settlements reached between the Icelandic state and the defendants.
According to a press release from the ECHR, the Icelandic state will pay Sigurjón Þorvaldur Árnason, Ívar Guðjónsson, Sigurþór Charles Guðmundsson, Margrét Guðjónsdóttir and Karl Emil Wernersson €12,000 each in damages and cover any costs incurred. In light of the state’s acknowledgement, the applicants have the possibility of applying to reopen their cases.
The cases concern the applicants’ criminal convictions related to the 2008 financial crisis and its aftermath in Iceland. They were convicted for a variety of financial offences, including abuse of power and negligence of duties related to their high-level positions in the banking industry. The applications were lodged with the European Court of Human Rights on various dates in 2016 to 2018.
Relying on Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to a fair trial), the applicants complained of the manner in which the Supreme Court of Iceland overturned or partially overturned their acquittals, or, in Sigurjón and Ívar’s cases, various aspects of the criminal proceedings against them.
