Norway jails racist killers

OSLO, Norway -- Two neo-Nazis have been convicted of stabbing a black Norwegian teenager to death in the country's first reported racist murder.

Joe Erling Jahr, 20, and Ole Nicolai Kvisler, 22, were sentenced to 16 years and 15 years respectively on Thursday for premeditated murder.

A third defendant, Veronica Andreassen, 18, an ex-girlfriend of Kvisler's was convicted to three years for being an accessory to the attack.

Benjamin Hermansen, 15, was killed when he went to meet a friend in Oslo last January.

His racially-motivated killing sparked demonstrations which attracted tens of thousands of people.

The funeral held for Hermansen, who was born and raised in Norway, was attended by hundreds of mourners including the country's prime minister.

Hermansen, who has a Norwegian mother and a Ghanian father, had spoken out against racism on national television a few months before his death and after he was assaulted by neo-Nazi youths during a soccer tournament in Denmark.

But it seemed his killers, who were both linked to a neo-Nazi group called the Boot Boys, were just looking for anyone who did not have white skin.

Despite his mother's objections, Hermansen had gone out on the night of his murder to trade mobile phone covers with his best friend. The friend, who saw the murder, was a key witness in the 12-day trial.

The court said the murder was planned, racially motivated and committed by members of a neo-Nazi group partly to spread fear.

"Benjamin Hermansen would not have been attacked if his skin had been the same colour as the defendants," judge Kaare Roekkum told the court.

The court said Jahr and Kvisler had gone out that night with the intention of "getting a foreigner" and had brought knives.

Their sentences were under the maximum term of 21 years set by Norwegian law.

Both the prosecution and the defendants can appeal against the verdict.

Jahr had called the killing an "accident."

Hermansen's murder spurred the government to set up a fast-acting panel to recommend ways to strengthen laws against racism.

The recommendations, issued last March, include a ban on the public display of racist and Nazi symbols. The measures are under consideration, according to the Justice Ministry.