Ruling in the Haarde trial 2 pm Icelandic time
The ruling in the trial over former Prime Minister Geir Haarde is expected today at 2pm Icelandic time. This court can only be convened to judge ministers and can only be set in operation by the Icelandic Parliament, Althingi. The prosecutor in the case prosecutes on the behalf of Althingi. The judges are fifteen in total. Five of them are High Court judges and two with a judge competence – in this case, one is an academic in law and the other a County Court judge. The remaining eight are nominated by Althing.
This court is called “Landsdómur” in Icelandic and is, as so many things in the Icelandic constitution, based on a Danish example, “Rigsret,” last convened in 1995 in a case against Minister of Justice Erik Ninn-Hansen. In the Danish “Rigsret” there are 15 High Court judges and 15 MPs.
It’s the first time this court is convened Iceland.
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