Norway court orders ailing princess’s son to stay in custody

Norway's Marius Borg Hoiby and Crown Princess Mette-Marit in Oslo, June 16, 2022. (Lise Aserud/NTB Scanpix via AP, File)

OSLO, Norway -- A Norwegian appeal court on Wednesday overturned a lower court’s decision to release the son of ailing Crown Princess Mette-Marit ahead of the June 15 verdict on 40 charges against him including rape and assault.

A judge had on Monday agreed to 29-year-old Marius Borg Hoiby’s request to be released from custody to be with his 52-year-old mother, who has been placed on a waiting list for a lung transplant after her health worsened.

She suffers from a rare form of pulmonary fibrosis, an incurable lung disease that causes breathing difficulties.

Hoiby, Mette-Marit’s son from a relationship before her 2001 marriage to Crown Prince Haakon, stood trial from February 3 to March 19 and has been in custody since February 1.

He faces 40 charges, including the rape of four women, that carry a maximum sentence of 16 years in prison.

Prosecutors had appealed Monday’s ruling granting his release, and Hoiby remained in custody pending the latest decision.

The Oslo appeals court ruled there was “still a strong likelihood that Hoiby would commit new crimes if he is released.”

The judge said she could not see “how the constraints experienced by Hoiby in detention would be any different from those of others held in custody with seriously ill parents or close relatives.”

Questioned by AFP, Hoiby’s lawyers said they were “extremely disappointed.” But they said they would not appeal to the Supreme Court.

Prosecutors have sought a prison sentence of seven years and seven months against Hoiby, who does not formally belong to the royal household and who has denied the most serious charges.

The scandal has tainted the monarchy’s image and comes on top of revelations of Mette-Marit’s close friendship and correspondence with convicted US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein between 2011 and 2014.