Iceland‘s Most Infamous Criminal Investigation

Tryggvi Rúnar jr is named after his grandfather, who is one of the wrongly accused and convicted individuals in Iceland’s most infamous criminal investigation. In 1974, two men, on separate occasions, went missing and their bodies were never found. The police scrambled to figure out what happened to Guðmundur Einarsson and Geirfinnur Einarsson (not related). I watched the Netflix series Out of Thin Air, which gives more background about what Tryggvi talks about during this interview.

Coercion & Intense Interrogation to Get Confessions

After intense interrogations and mistreatment, including being put in solitary confinement for years, six people confessed and were convicted for kidnapping, killing, and disposing of the bodies of these two men. This was without any forensic evidence or the bodies of these two men. Finally, in 2018 five out of the six falsely convicted people were exonerated.

In this episode, you will hear how Tryggvi Rúnar Jr grew up around his grandfather but was completely unaware of his past as a petty criminal and wrongly convicted person. His experience of his grandfather was only one of a caring, gentle, and giving older man that loved him. Tryggvi, his family, the others convicted and their families, have been fighting the Icelandic justice system for years. As I mentioned earlier, five out of the six were exonerated. While that is great, it took over 40 years for justice, and Erla’s name has still not been cleared.

I think a story like this sheds light on the fact that someone’s past doesn’t have to define how they act in the future. Also, “once a criminal, always a criminal” is a harsh and unfair label that can lock people into a vicious cycle of criminal behavior because they haven’t been able to reintegrate back into society.

The Icelandic Government’s Involvement

The other aspect to this interview that intrigued me to no end is the involvement of the Icelandic government. The current Prime Minister, Katrín Jakóbsdóttir acknowledged there was wrongdoing regarding the case and investigation. However, she has never directly apologized to the families on behalf of the Icelandic government. Tryggvi Rúnar explains this in detail during the interview. Admittingly, I was shocked to hear that because this seems like such a cut and dry thing to do.

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