Damages In Leaked Memo Case Not Settled Yet

Following his conviction in the leaked memo case last year, former assistant to the Minister of the Interior, Gísli Freyr Valdórsson, is yet to settle on an amount to pay in damages, reports RÚV.

As reported, Gísli Freyr was sentenced to an eight month suspended prison sentence by the Reykjavík district court last November for leaking a Ministry document containing sensitive personal information and unsubstantiated slander about one Tony Omos, at the time seeking asylum in Iceland.

Currently Gísli Freyr and his lawyer are attempting to negotiate compensatory damages but no deal has been struck as yet.

Tony Omos is seeking 5 million ISK in damages, his partner and mother of his child, Evelyn Glory Joseph – also defamed in the leaked memo – has asked for 4.5 million ISK. A third person mentioned in the memo – an Icelandic woman – has asked for damages of up to 2.5 million ISK.

Omos, a Nigerian asylum seeker and the victim of the Ministry’s conduct was deported in December 2013, shortly after the Ministry’s memo leak. The deportation took place in the middle of the night, without prior notice, with Icelandic Police forcing him aboard an airplane to Switzerland.

Neither Omos nor his lawyer were notified before the deportation procedure began.

Omos currently lives in Italy, his child and Evelyn Glory still live in Iceland.

Last month Reykjavík District Court acquitted the Directorate of Immigration from charges pressed on behalf of Tony Omos, whose application for asylum in Iceland will henceforth not be taken to consideration.