The High Court (Landsdómur) announced on Wednesday that Sigrídur Fridjónsdóttir who represents the Icelandic parliament, Althingi, in its case against former Prime Minister Geir H. Haarde (pictured) for alleged misconduct in office, was legally elected.
Haarde’s lawyer Andri Árnason had demanded that the case against his client be dismissed on the basis that the prosecutor had not been elected in the same parliamentary session as when it was decided that charges should be filed against Haarde, Fréttabladid reports.
In the laws of the High Court it is stated that when Althingi decides to file charges before the High Court, a prosecutor is to be elected “at the same time”. However, the prosecutor was not elected until a different parliamentary session.
The High Court ruling states: “The election of the prosecutor […] was not delayed to such an extent that it could have sabotaged [Haarde’s] case.”
The ruling also states that the laws cannot be interpreted thus that the decision to press charges and the decision of which prosecutor to appoint necessarily has to take place in the same parliamentary session.
Click here to read more about this story.
