Foreign Minister Valgerdur Sverrisdóttir announced this week that she would write a letter to the governor of Virginia requesting an Icelandic citizen be transferred to an Icelandic prison from a prison in Virginia.
Geir Thórisson has been serving time for a serious assault in the US for the last six years. In April 2000 he requested a transfer to Iceland. Iceland’s Ministry of Justice accepted his request in June 2000, but in March 2001 authorities in Virginia rejected it on the grounds that Thórisson’s crime was too serious for a transfer. Fréttabladid reports.
Thórisson’s story was recently covered in the news program Kastljós on public broadcaster RÚV. Following the coverage, Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir, MP for the Social Democrats, asked the foreign minister if she intended to get involved in the case.
The minister replied that the Icelandic government had repeatedly asked the US government for a transfer for Thórisson during the last six years, but without results.
Sverrisdóttir said she would make another attempt with the letter to the Virginia governor, but said she was not optimistic.
