Four MPs Seek Damages Against Klausturgate Leaker For “Spying”

Four of the six MPs recorded speaking abusively about their female colleagues at Klaustur bar have opted to take legal action against the person who recorded them. A lawyer for the MPs described the recording as “spy tactics”, despite the fact that the conversation was had in a public space at a volume audible to anyone sitting within a few tables of the group.

For the unfamiliar, Bára Halldórsdóttir, a disabled queer woman, recently came forward as the one who took the four-hour-long recording and then forwarded it to DV and Stundin. However, as RÚV reports, a memo from lawyer Reimur Pétursson calling upon her to testify against herself was filed on December 6, before she came forward.

The lawyer represents four of the six MPs present in the Klaustur conversation: Bergþór Ólason, Gunnar Bragi Sveinsson, Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson and Anna Kolbrún Árnadóttir, all from the Centre Party.

The memo argues that the group had a reasonable expectation that they could have their conversation without being listened in on or recorded. As such, the lawyer contends recording them constitutes “an illegal action against their freedom, peace, and reputations”.

Bára is actually being called upon as a witness in this case, which may prove complicated from a legal perspective. Like most western democracies, Icelandic law prohibits forcing people to testify against themselves. Regardless, she is expected to show up at Reykjavík District Court (shown above) on December 17.