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This film contains
some strong language
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00:00:37,360 --> 00:00:39,600
When I remember things...
3
00:00:44,320 --> 00:00:47,760
..it's not just some kind of
mathematical machine in my head.
4
00:00:55,800 --> 00:01:01,200
It is contaminated
in terms of facts.
5
00:01:04,680 --> 00:01:08,480
It's mixed with desires, with fears.
6
00:01:10,240 --> 00:01:12,720
Memory is such a fickle thing.
7
00:02:14,080 --> 00:02:17,080
Every Icelander
knows about this case.
8
00:02:19,280 --> 00:02:23,200
It's the biggest criminal case
of the last century.
9
00:02:44,720 --> 00:02:50,200
It was such torture,
because I was this guilty person...
10
00:02:51,880 --> 00:02:57,320
..and I had never really connected
with the actual memory
11
00:02:57,320 --> 00:02:59,160
of any of it happening.
12
00:03:27,600 --> 00:03:32,880
When I was growing up in Reykjavik,
it was a small-town community.
13
00:03:32,880 --> 00:03:37,760
It felt almost like one family
because everyone is related.
14
00:03:42,200 --> 00:03:47,680
In '74, there were probably
220,000 people.
15
00:03:47,680 --> 00:03:53,000
Iceland was a village,
and you still knew most everyone.
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00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:54,760
MUSIC PLAYS
17
00:03:58,200 --> 00:04:01,400
We didn't have so much experience
of the outer world.
18
00:04:04,400 --> 00:04:06,920
It was a safe community.
19
00:04:06,920 --> 00:04:08,320
There was very little crime.
20
00:04:09,880 --> 00:04:11,800
It was a state of innocence,
really.
21
00:04:14,160 --> 00:04:19,200
And authorities
were something everybody trusted -
22
00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:23,160
and newspapers, they don't lie -
23
00:04:23,160 --> 00:04:26,320
and that's what people had here.
24
00:04:26,320 --> 00:04:30,680
They trusted that everything was
the way it seemed.
25
00:04:54,640 --> 00:04:58,000
It was a time here in Iceland
where there was a lot of changes,
26
00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:01,240
and I remember my parents'
generation was quite nervous
27
00:05:01,240 --> 00:05:04,240
of what on Earth was going on...
28
00:05:04,240 --> 00:05:07,280
and I felt like I was with the crowd
29
00:05:07,280 --> 00:05:10,400
that really had
an understanding of life.
30
00:05:19,600 --> 00:05:24,320
Hippies didn't respect rules,
they didn't respect law.
31
00:05:27,240 --> 00:05:32,760
People would be smoking hash
and discussing politics,
32
00:05:32,760 --> 00:05:36,160
and I was soaking up
everything they said like a sponge.
33
00:05:49,880 --> 00:05:54,480
At these parties where everybody's
passing the pipe, there he is -
34
00:05:54,480 --> 00:05:56,480
and I was wondering,
"Who's this guy?"
35
00:05:56,480 --> 00:05:59,760
And somebody said,
"That's Saevar Ciesielski."
36
00:06:01,240 --> 00:06:05,080
Saevar had a foreign look,
most definitely.
37
00:06:05,080 --> 00:06:09,360
He had this dark hair
and he had these Slavic eyes -
38
00:06:09,360 --> 00:06:14,840
and the other thing about him
was he was so mysterious.
39
00:06:14,840 --> 00:06:18,840
There was always this mythology
around Ciesielski.
40
00:06:18,840 --> 00:06:23,320
The story was that he had this group
of thugs around him.
41
00:06:23,320 --> 00:06:27,800
They came from broken homes,
they had left school early.
42
00:06:29,200 --> 00:06:32,520
These kids were in trouble from,
basically, the day they were born.
43
00:06:38,360 --> 00:06:41,840
LSD had entered the picture,
and on one of these occasions,
44
00:06:41,840 --> 00:06:46,320
this party is going on and we're
just drinking Coke or something,
45
00:06:46,320 --> 00:06:48,200
and then all of a sudden,
46
00:06:48,200 --> 00:06:52,040
I start feeling like
I'm getting high
47
00:06:52,040 --> 00:06:56,000
until I realised
I am actually high on LSD.
48
00:07:00,240 --> 00:07:04,120
So I started looking for a corner,
somewhere where I could hide...
49
00:07:06,160 --> 00:07:10,080
..and then I stumble on something,
and it's Saevar,
50
00:07:10,080 --> 00:07:14,760
and then he tells me somebody
must have put LSD in my drink.
51
00:07:14,760 --> 00:07:18,560
So we were just going to hang
on to each other through this.
52
00:07:20,400 --> 00:07:25,680
We talked about our view of life,
innermost pain,
53
00:07:25,680 --> 00:07:29,280
everything there was
to know about each other.
54
00:07:33,560 --> 00:07:39,240
I felt like I had met one of the
most incredible human beings ever...
55
00:07:40,560 --> 00:07:43,920
..and he felt the same way,
you know.
56
00:07:47,720 --> 00:07:53,480
After that night, there was no other
way to go forward but together.
57
00:09:27,240 --> 00:09:30,240
The weather changes very quickly
here in Iceland.
58
00:09:31,840 --> 00:09:34,640
Sometimes you have a good sunny day
in the morning,
59
00:09:34,640 --> 00:09:36,880
but at noon you have heavy snow.
60
00:09:39,280 --> 00:09:44,320
Some people don't understand
how quickly the weather changes,
61
00:09:44,320 --> 00:09:46,040
and get lost.
62
00:09:48,080 --> 00:09:51,840
Gudmundur disappeared on
Saturday night, 27th of January...
63
00:09:53,520 --> 00:10:00,560
..and on Tuesday, there was a big
call for rescue teams for a search.
64
00:10:03,240 --> 00:10:08,560
There was about 200 people looking,
and we searched until dark.
65
00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:18,960
At that time, there was no thought
about this was a crime,
66
00:10:18,960 --> 00:10:23,720
or something like that, because in
those days it happened very often
67
00:10:23,720 --> 00:10:27,040
that people got lost in the lava.
68
00:10:50,680 --> 00:10:54,280
It was a nice summer.
Good weather for weeks on end.
69
00:11:07,640 --> 00:11:11,920
My family was very upset about
my relationship with Saevar,
70
00:11:11,920 --> 00:11:14,720
because they had been told
that he was, you know,
71
00:11:14,720 --> 00:11:17,200
a dangerous guy
because he was selling drugs...
72
00:11:20,680 --> 00:11:24,720
..and so I was out of my
relationship with my family
73
00:11:24,720 --> 00:11:26,040
because of him,
74
00:11:26,040 --> 00:11:30,320
and he did have a hold on me.
75
00:11:30,320 --> 00:11:36,120
I felt privileged
to be considered OK by him.
76
00:11:38,840 --> 00:11:42,880
Saevar had this desire
to commit some kind of a crime
77
00:11:42,880 --> 00:11:44,880
that he would get away with
78
00:11:44,880 --> 00:11:47,920
and leave authorities
just tearing their hair out
79
00:11:47,920 --> 00:11:49,600
cos they couldn't prove anything.
80
00:11:51,280 --> 00:11:54,120
As I was working
for the telephone company,
81
00:11:54,120 --> 00:11:58,080
I came up with this embezzlement
that we eventually committed.
82
00:12:01,440 --> 00:12:05,560
What we had to do was tamper with
the telephones
83
00:12:05,560 --> 00:12:08,680
to make it sound like we were
calling long-distance.
84
00:12:10,320 --> 00:12:15,040
I called the office where I worked
and I said, "I have a postal order,"
85
00:12:15,040 --> 00:12:17,840
and so it gets processed,
86
00:12:17,840 --> 00:12:22,640
and sent from there to the main
post office downtown...
87
00:12:28,160 --> 00:12:29,920
..and then I go to the post office
88
00:12:29,920 --> 00:12:32,520
and I tell them I'm here to pick up
the postal order.
89
00:12:35,440 --> 00:12:37,680
I was so scared.
90
00:12:37,680 --> 00:12:40,520
I felt like,
"I'm going to get caught."
91
00:12:55,560 --> 00:13:00,520
The amount that we embezzled
was just under a million krona...
92
00:13:06,120 --> 00:13:10,560
..and I became pretty confident
that they would never find out.
93
00:13:10,560 --> 00:13:12,800
"Boy, are they going to be
pissed off!
94
00:13:12,800 --> 00:13:14,400
"We got 'em!"
95
00:13:37,720 --> 00:13:40,440
That whole chain of events
96
00:13:40,440 --> 00:13:42,600
was so mysterious
97
00:13:42,600 --> 00:13:44,920
that we immediately thought,
98
00:13:44,920 --> 00:13:47,320
"This is a murder inquiry."
99
00:13:59,800 --> 00:14:03,360
Witnesses remember that a man
came into the cafe
100
00:14:03,360 --> 00:14:05,320
and he asked to use the phone.
101
00:14:07,240 --> 00:14:11,440
This was about the same time as
Geirfinnur got his phone call.
102
00:14:11,440 --> 00:14:13,160
PHONE RINGS
103
00:14:13,160 --> 00:14:15,120
Hallo?
104
00:14:15,120 --> 00:14:18,200
HE SPEAKS IN ICELANDIC
105
00:14:23,320 --> 00:14:24,920
Ja?
106
00:15:36,720 --> 00:15:40,680
He was a good man, had no enemies.
107
00:15:40,680 --> 00:15:44,280
It was unlike him
to disappear like that.
108
00:15:48,560 --> 00:15:51,640
There were searching teams all over.
109
00:15:51,640 --> 00:15:55,440
The dogs, the divers in the harbour,
everything was done.
110
00:16:06,400 --> 00:16:11,840
An artist in Keflavik came up with
an idea to make a clay statue
111
00:16:11,840 --> 00:16:17,440
of the suspect, and the reaction was
overwhelming in the whole society.
112
00:16:30,200 --> 00:16:33,920
No body was found,
so we were totally at a blank end.
113
00:16:43,240 --> 00:16:45,320
Very early on,
114
00:16:45,320 --> 00:16:47,480
I got the sense that something
going on here
115
00:16:47,480 --> 00:16:49,160
that's not going to end well.
116
00:16:51,280 --> 00:16:55,640
Ah... And it turned out,
didn't end well.
117
00:17:10,600 --> 00:17:15,360
Our daughter was born here
in Reykjavik
118
00:17:15,360 --> 00:17:18,400
on the 24th of September, 1975.
119
00:17:20,160 --> 00:17:24,280
Saevar was present at the birth,
and very excited.
120
00:17:25,560 --> 00:17:27,560
After she was born,
121
00:17:27,560 --> 00:17:30,400
I had one focus in my life,
122
00:17:30,400 --> 00:17:35,040
and that was to be a perfect mother
for this child.
123
00:17:35,040 --> 00:17:37,680
I would sacrifice anything -
124
00:17:37,680 --> 00:17:42,960
and I was really upset with
Saevar's way of life at that point.
125
00:17:42,960 --> 00:17:46,240
I had told him,
"I don't want this any more.
126
00:17:46,240 --> 00:17:51,520
"I just want to have a normal life
in the daylight, nothing to hide."
127
00:17:52,920 --> 00:17:57,400
I was 20 years old,
and I was so naive.
128
00:17:59,640 --> 00:18:02,720
Saevar and his friends
were known to the police.
129
00:18:02,720 --> 00:18:09,480
They were part of some kind
of a criminal underworld.
130
00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:16,480
Most of them had been in prison
for petty crime, thievery.
131
00:18:16,480 --> 00:18:18,920
They were violent.
132
00:18:21,320 --> 00:18:23,800
This was a nasty group of kids.
133
00:18:35,120 --> 00:18:37,800
When they came to arrest me,
134
00:18:37,800 --> 00:18:43,040
they surrounded this big building as
if they were arresting terrorists.
135
00:18:44,760 --> 00:18:47,960
All I could do was call my sister.
136
00:18:47,960 --> 00:18:51,240
So she came around
and took the baby.
137
00:18:54,400 --> 00:18:56,680
I remember getting in a car.
138
00:19:02,080 --> 00:19:05,560
Glimpses where I'm just
really scared...
139
00:19:05,560 --> 00:19:07,520
and I remember trying to tell them
140
00:19:07,520 --> 00:19:11,120
I can't be here for a long time,
because the baby needs me.
141
00:19:13,760 --> 00:19:16,240
They took me to this prison...
142
00:19:18,280 --> 00:19:21,800
..and then I was locked up
in this cell.
143
00:19:32,440 --> 00:19:35,000
The next day, they spoke to me
144
00:19:35,000 --> 00:19:40,200
and explained that I was now going
to be held in custody for 30 days
145
00:19:40,200 --> 00:19:42,960
on suspicion of the embezzlement.
146
00:19:46,680 --> 00:19:50,400
I just broke down and
couldn't handle that reality.
147
00:19:50,400 --> 00:19:52,120
What about the baby?
148
00:19:58,200 --> 00:20:00,480
And then they just sent me back
to my cell
149
00:20:00,480 --> 00:20:03,520
and then left me there
for six days and nights.
150
00:20:11,200 --> 00:20:14,560
During the questioning
about the embezzlement,
151
00:20:14,560 --> 00:20:18,080
they told me that Saevar
had been very clear
152
00:20:18,080 --> 00:20:22,680
that I had been entirely
on my own doing that,
153
00:20:22,680 --> 00:20:26,480
and they told me,
"You need to realise that Saevar
154
00:20:26,480 --> 00:20:30,240
"is a really rotten human being
to the core.
155
00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:34,480
"There is no redemption for him."
156
00:20:36,440 --> 00:20:38,480
I was really shocked
157
00:20:38,480 --> 00:20:40,360
that Saevar would betray me
that way,
158
00:20:40,360 --> 00:20:45,000
but he had betrayed me
in terms of other girls,
159
00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:48,560
so it was easier
for me to believe them.
160
00:20:51,800 --> 00:20:56,160
Eventually, I decided to tell them
everything,
161
00:20:56,160 --> 00:20:58,280
not just the embezzlement,
162
00:20:58,280 --> 00:21:01,640
but anything illegal
that I was aware of.
163
00:21:03,880 --> 00:21:06,160
And what a relief!
164
00:21:07,920 --> 00:21:12,320
It was the end of an era
and a beginning of a life.
165
00:21:14,920 --> 00:21:17,680
These guys had actually helped me.
166
00:21:28,680 --> 00:21:31,520
And then one of them says,
"Oh, by the way,
167
00:21:31,520 --> 00:21:33,800
"one other thing we want to ask you.
168
00:21:33,800 --> 00:21:36,880
"Do you know a guy by the name of
Gudmundur Einarsson?"
169
00:21:36,880 --> 00:21:39,600
And then he shows me a photograph.
170
00:21:40,840 --> 00:21:42,960
I said, "Yeah, I've seen this guy.
171
00:21:42,960 --> 00:21:46,720
"Years ago at my girlfriend's house,
she had a school party.
172
00:21:46,720 --> 00:21:49,760
"I remember him because
he was a really nice guy" -
173
00:21:49,760 --> 00:21:51,240
and that was it.
174
00:21:51,240 --> 00:21:52,440
"Are you sure?"
175
00:21:52,440 --> 00:21:55,320
"Yeah. Yeah. I don't remember
ever seeing him after that."
176
00:21:55,320 --> 00:21:56,880
THEY SPEAK IN ICELANDIC
177
00:22:07,840 --> 00:22:11,800
During that case, I think it was
Erla who started to tell them
178
00:22:11,800 --> 00:22:16,880
about things that had happened
the year before.
179
00:22:18,160 --> 00:22:20,040
This was a long questioning.
180
00:22:20,040 --> 00:22:21,680
It was hours -
181
00:22:21,680 --> 00:22:25,400
and during that whole process
they got closer and closer
182
00:22:25,400 --> 00:22:30,760
to talking about the weekend
when this boy disappeared.
183
00:22:30,760 --> 00:22:36,000
Somehow it got down to me telling
them that I had had a nightmare.
184
00:22:42,080 --> 00:22:44,480
The weather that night was crazy.
185
00:22:46,240 --> 00:22:49,280
It would just howl like a wolf.
186
00:23:06,800 --> 00:23:12,920
In an old house like that,
you feel like the house is moving.
187
00:23:20,000 --> 00:23:21,600
Then I hear some whispering.
188
00:23:24,280 --> 00:23:26,880
There were people
outside my window...
189
00:23:28,480 --> 00:23:31,360
..and these were violent people..
190
00:23:31,360 --> 00:23:34,200
and I became aware
that they're whispering,
191
00:23:34,200 --> 00:23:36,200
wondering if I'm awake or not.
192
00:23:37,920 --> 00:23:41,280
I feel like I'm in this corner -
I can't go anywhere...
193
00:23:43,040 --> 00:23:45,160
..and then I wake up.
194
00:23:58,040 --> 00:24:00,760
After all this questioning,
195
00:24:00,760 --> 00:24:05,800
the chief of the investigation
leans over and he says,
196
00:24:05,800 --> 00:24:09,960
"Something terrible happened
that night in that apartment,
197
00:24:09,960 --> 00:24:12,120
"you witnessed it,
198
00:24:12,120 --> 00:24:15,760
"and you cannot recall
because of the trauma it caused you.
199
00:24:15,760 --> 00:24:19,400
"So what we want to do now
is you go back to your cell
200
00:24:19,400 --> 00:24:22,360
"and you try as much
as you can to remember,
201
00:24:22,360 --> 00:24:25,720
"and then we will be back
and talk about it some more."
202
00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:49,880
I remember lying there
thinking about that night.
203
00:24:51,880 --> 00:24:54,720
My head was full of pictures...
204
00:24:57,200 --> 00:24:58,720
..and I wondered,
205
00:24:58,720 --> 00:25:03,080
"Was that nightmare maybe something
that really did happen?"
206
00:25:06,600 --> 00:25:09,600
That I woke up...
207
00:25:13,040 --> 00:25:15,480
..got out of bed...
208
00:25:17,360 --> 00:25:19,280
..and saw them.
209
00:25:26,080 --> 00:25:30,320
I saw Saevar and Kristjan and a
third person I didn't recognise,
210
00:25:30,320 --> 00:25:31,600
carrying something heavy.
211
00:25:33,080 --> 00:25:37,000
I didn't see what was in the sheet,
but I was sure that it was a body.
212
00:25:41,200 --> 00:25:43,080
I couldn't move.
213
00:25:43,080 --> 00:25:47,560
I was cold, but at the same time
I felt like I was sweating.
214
00:25:49,200 --> 00:25:52,280
Later, Saevar took me
by the arms and put me to bed.
215
00:25:54,080 --> 00:25:56,600
I said I was going
to deny everything.
216
00:26:05,440 --> 00:26:09,360
Gudmundur disappears in January '74,
217
00:26:09,360 --> 00:26:12,760
and she made this confession
December '75.
218
00:26:12,760 --> 00:26:14,720
So it's already two years.
219
00:26:16,840 --> 00:26:21,640
We searched the flat but there was
not much evidence on the scene.
220
00:26:23,120 --> 00:26:25,240
No DNA, nothing of the sort.
221
00:26:28,560 --> 00:26:30,960
PHONE RINGS
222
00:26:34,880 --> 00:26:37,320
Hallo?
223
00:26:37,320 --> 00:26:41,280
After I was released,
they called me and they tell me,
224
00:26:41,280 --> 00:26:43,680
"We have questioned Saevar..."
225
00:26:43,680 --> 00:26:44,720
Hm.
226
00:26:46,320 --> 00:26:49,000
"..and we just want to let you know
227
00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:53,320
"that his testimony is in line
with yours in detail."
228
00:27:00,680 --> 00:27:03,920
December 22, 1975.
229
00:27:03,920 --> 00:27:07,040
Saevar said that Gudmundur,
Kristjan and Tryggvi
230
00:27:07,040 --> 00:27:12,800
had all come to the apartment during
the night in late January 1974.
231
00:27:12,800 --> 00:27:15,960
An argument had ended in
Gudmundur's death.
232
00:27:17,280 --> 00:27:19,840
Saevar had called his friend Albert
233
00:27:19,840 --> 00:27:23,360
and asked him to come
in his father's car.
234
00:27:23,360 --> 00:27:26,760
It was half past 11 in the evening.
235
00:27:26,760 --> 00:27:30,640
Kristjan called and he said,
"They are accusing me of murder."
236
00:27:32,440 --> 00:27:36,760
Kristjan then met the other guys,
and something had happened.
237
00:27:38,680 --> 00:27:41,240
I can't clearly remember
the events of that night...
238
00:27:42,520 --> 00:27:45,360
..I was under the influence
of alcohol...
239
00:27:45,360 --> 00:27:48,920
but all I'm going to tell you,
I think I remember with certainty.
240
00:27:50,520 --> 00:27:54,600
There was a fight in the apartment,
and I'm sure I took no part in it.
241
00:27:56,840 --> 00:27:59,240
There was some disagreement,
242
00:27:59,240 --> 00:28:02,720
I'm sure between Kristjan
and the man with no name.
243
00:28:04,520 --> 00:28:09,560
It started by them cursing
each other, but ended in a fight.
244
00:28:09,560 --> 00:28:15,120
Then the man hit me and I think I
hit him, and he fell to the floor.
245
00:28:15,120 --> 00:28:17,560
Then I saw Saevar
kick him in the head.
246
00:28:26,360 --> 00:28:30,160
The next thing I remember is that
Albert's car was at the house.
247
00:28:30,160 --> 00:28:33,920
Saevar, Kristjan and Tryggvi
approached the vehicle.
248
00:28:35,000 --> 00:28:38,120
I saw that all three carried
something that look like a bag.
249
00:28:39,680 --> 00:28:42,120
Saevar told me where to drive.
250
00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:49,840
On the way back, Saevar and I
discussed what was in the bag.
251
00:28:49,840 --> 00:28:53,800
Saevar then clearly told me
that it contained a corpse.
252
00:28:57,640 --> 00:29:01,120
The police had told me
that when they were trying
253
00:29:01,120 --> 00:29:04,200
to figure out what had been done
with the body,
254
00:29:04,200 --> 00:29:06,600
they had to cut it all up
into pieces
255
00:29:06,600 --> 00:29:08,800
and carry it out in plastic bags.
256
00:29:10,360 --> 00:29:13,160
My mind was getting really worked,
257
00:29:13,160 --> 00:29:15,200
and it felt to me like all this had
258
00:29:15,200 --> 00:29:17,880
been going on with me
completely unaware,
259
00:29:17,880 --> 00:29:20,920
and that these guys
had been butchers of people.
260
00:29:24,720 --> 00:29:29,200
I was picturing him
when he's holding the baby...
261
00:29:29,200 --> 00:29:32,920
The smile was just an act, or...
262
00:29:32,920 --> 00:29:34,520
Everything.
263
00:29:34,520 --> 00:29:37,760
Everything becomes questionable.
264
00:30:17,360 --> 00:30:21,680
The next thing that happened
is in early 1976.
265
00:30:21,680 --> 00:30:26,800
Police is still investigating
Saevar and Erla about Gudmundur.
266
00:30:26,800 --> 00:30:28,920
They mention also Geirfinnur.
267
00:30:34,280 --> 00:30:36,280
The police always stayed
in touch with me...
268
00:30:38,760 --> 00:30:44,120
..and with my social situation
where I was so isolated,
269
00:30:44,120 --> 00:30:47,680
these were the only friends
in the world that I had,
270
00:30:47,680 --> 00:30:50,360
and they became
very important to me...
271
00:30:50,360 --> 00:30:52,040
and at some point,
272
00:30:52,040 --> 00:30:55,680
the talk starts getting to
the disappearance of Geirfinnur...
273
00:30:57,000 --> 00:30:59,640
..and he asked me point blank,
274
00:30:59,640 --> 00:31:02,600
"Do you think that Saevar
knows something
275
00:31:02,600 --> 00:31:04,120
"about what happened to him?"
276
00:31:11,320 --> 00:31:15,120
The thing about Geirfinnur
was that he was never found,
277
00:31:15,120 --> 00:31:17,320
so it was suspicious from the start.
278
00:31:19,680 --> 00:31:23,240
Then they started some rumours
and some conspiracy theories.
279
00:31:24,440 --> 00:31:26,440
There was all these rumours going on
280
00:31:26,440 --> 00:31:28,840
that there might have been
connection
281
00:31:28,840 --> 00:31:31,160
between the disappearance
of Geirfinnur
282
00:31:31,160 --> 00:31:35,000
and people running
a particular discotheque.
283
00:31:35,000 --> 00:31:38,080
There was always a lot of
smuggled alcohol around then.
284
00:31:38,080 --> 00:31:40,520
The rumour was
that some of the clubs
285
00:31:40,520 --> 00:31:44,000
would get their alcohol
from that source...
286
00:31:45,440 --> 00:31:51,040
..so, maybe this guy Geirfinnur
got caught up in smuggling.
287
00:31:56,280 --> 00:31:59,480
We drove from the city
and headed to Keflavik.
288
00:32:01,160 --> 00:32:05,240
Saevar held my hand the whole time,
like he didn't want to let go.
289
00:32:08,240 --> 00:32:10,480
The car stopped close to the sea.
290
00:32:23,720 --> 00:32:28,560
Basically, Geirfinnur had been hired
to pick up big plastic containers
291
00:32:28,560 --> 00:32:31,720
of alcohol that were being
smuggled into the country...
292
00:32:40,280 --> 00:32:43,320
..and then there had been a quarrel,
293
00:32:43,320 --> 00:32:46,640
and he had died
because of all of that.
294
00:33:14,320 --> 00:33:16,280
For the village of Iceland,
295
00:33:16,280 --> 00:33:18,760
this was - you know,
this was shocking.
296
00:33:20,160 --> 00:33:25,320
It was the biggest story to hit
the population for years and years.
297
00:33:33,480 --> 00:33:37,480
The perception was that this was
organised crime
298
00:33:37,480 --> 00:33:41,160
tied in with people
in the highest places.
299
00:33:41,160 --> 00:33:45,000
The gossip was that
the Progressive Party
300
00:33:45,000 --> 00:33:48,440
had been involved
in all the smuggling.
301
00:33:48,440 --> 00:33:52,400
And the chairman of the Progressive
Party was the Minister of Justice,
302
00:33:52,400 --> 00:33:54,640
so this was a big scandal.
303
00:34:17,320 --> 00:34:19,200
It was really the beginning of...
304
00:34:19,200 --> 00:34:21,840
I would call it public hysteria.
305
00:34:21,840 --> 00:34:27,880
We had a killer gang amongst us,
two times murderers.
306
00:34:27,880 --> 00:34:29,680
Where was the police?
307
00:34:29,680 --> 00:34:31,400
How could this have happened?
308
00:34:31,400 --> 00:34:34,720
And of course in this little
close-knit community,
309
00:34:34,720 --> 00:34:36,960
everyone was talking about this.
310
00:34:36,960 --> 00:34:43,400
What's really going on
in this kind of society?
311
00:34:43,400 --> 00:34:48,360
In a way, we lost our innocence,
we lost our security -
312
00:34:48,360 --> 00:34:53,880
and all of a sudden the big bad
world was knocking at our door.
313
00:35:01,600 --> 00:35:07,040
Then in early May '76, all of the
sudden these four men are released.
314
00:35:07,040 --> 00:35:11,320
Turns out that the investigation
produced nothing.
315
00:35:11,320 --> 00:35:14,760
Saevar and the gang,
they made up this story.
316
00:35:14,760 --> 00:35:18,000
It took the police three months
to figure out that this was..
317
00:35:18,960 --> 00:35:21,280
..all the time was a total lie.
318
00:35:27,160 --> 00:35:29,560
During the summer of 1976,
319
00:35:29,560 --> 00:35:34,000
I was a detective with that same
force investigating these two cases.
320
00:35:35,400 --> 00:35:39,120
What I saw is that the police
were under incredible pressure
321
00:35:39,120 --> 00:35:41,000
to solve these cases.
322
00:35:51,160 --> 00:35:56,080
The atmosphere was tense,
like a panic.
323
00:35:56,080 --> 00:35:59,040
The message that was
being communicated
324
00:35:59,040 --> 00:36:00,960
was all of these people,
325
00:36:00,960 --> 00:36:04,360
they're playing games,
they're not cooperating.
326
00:36:04,360 --> 00:36:08,240
The police was in
a very, very bad situation.
327
00:36:08,240 --> 00:36:10,480
Even after they have confessed
killing Geirfinnur,
328
00:36:10,480 --> 00:36:13,320
they are still changing their story
about how he died...
329
00:36:19,880 --> 00:36:23,240
..and the police
didn't have the bodies.
330
00:36:23,240 --> 00:36:26,080
They had only the statements
from these people.
331
00:36:28,920 --> 00:36:31,080
HE SHOUTS IN ICELANDIC
332
00:36:39,040 --> 00:36:42,440
Saevar put the rifle in my hands
and stood next to me.
333
00:36:44,040 --> 00:36:46,680
I was so close to the guy
that I could see his face.
334
00:36:47,840 --> 00:36:51,040
He seemed to realise
what was happening to him,
335
00:36:51,040 --> 00:36:53,520
and there was panic in his eyes.
336
00:37:06,920 --> 00:37:10,560
The investigation had been going on
for a long time.
337
00:37:10,560 --> 00:37:15,080
It didn't seem to be going
very well.
338
00:37:16,440 --> 00:37:20,920
The police had not experienced
a case like that.
339
00:37:20,920 --> 00:37:22,920
I mean, two murders.
340
00:37:24,640 --> 00:37:26,640
The public was demanding
341
00:37:26,640 --> 00:37:29,280
that the police would come up
with a solution.
342
00:37:29,280 --> 00:37:32,080
Find the guilty persons.
343
00:37:32,080 --> 00:37:35,000
The minister of justice
is getting anxious.
344
00:37:35,000 --> 00:37:37,200
He's responsible
for the whole thing,
345
00:37:37,200 --> 00:37:44,680
so he uses his influence, and soon
after, this guy Schutz shows up.
346
00:37:44,680 --> 00:37:48,600
He was head of the West German
security police.
347
00:37:49,760 --> 00:37:54,400
We thought, "Well, this seems to be,
you know, the real McCoy."
348
00:37:56,440 --> 00:38:00,520
Karl Schutz sets up a task force
of seven police officers,
349
00:38:00,520 --> 00:38:04,800
and there were three interpreters,
and the investigating judge -
350
00:38:04,800 --> 00:38:07,320
and he was quite a hard task master.
351
00:38:09,880 --> 00:38:13,560
The focus was very much,
"We've got to find the bodies."
352
00:38:15,160 --> 00:38:17,760
There were an enormous amount
of searches
353
00:38:17,760 --> 00:38:20,640
for Gudmundur and Geirfinnur's
bodies.
354
00:38:26,440 --> 00:38:30,320
Karl Schutz spent months
studying the case
355
00:38:30,320 --> 00:38:32,160
and trying to understand it...
356
00:38:38,560 --> 00:38:43,800
..and he was also interviewing
the suspects through an interpreter.
357
00:38:45,520 --> 00:38:48,080
The focus was on who was the driver
358
00:38:48,080 --> 00:38:51,160
who took the gang
to meet Geirfinnur.
359
00:38:53,040 --> 00:38:57,840
They had to find somebody
who could have driven the car,
360
00:38:57,840 --> 00:39:01,160
and somebody they all knew,
361
00:39:01,160 --> 00:39:03,480
and there was I.
362
00:39:15,760 --> 00:39:18,320
Gudjon was different to the others.
363
00:39:18,320 --> 00:39:20,080
He was older.
364
00:39:20,080 --> 00:39:25,600
He was a much more educated man
and he came from a good background,
365
00:39:25,600 --> 00:39:29,240
and he said he had been there.
366
00:39:30,880 --> 00:39:35,160
It was a confession that was used
to convict the others.
367
00:39:47,200 --> 00:39:49,800
The three of us
fought with Geirfinnur
368
00:39:49,800 --> 00:39:51,640
and that resulted in his death.
369
00:39:56,480 --> 00:39:59,000
I don't remember the body
being put in the car,
370
00:39:59,000 --> 00:40:01,240
but on the way back to Reykjavik,
371
00:40:01,240 --> 00:40:04,600
I remember Saevar saying that I was
an accomplice to murder.
372
00:40:11,120 --> 00:40:13,760
We transferred the body
to Reykjavik -
373
00:40:13,760 --> 00:40:15,880
of course took it in other cars
374
00:40:15,880 --> 00:40:17,880
so it would never be found.
375
00:40:32,400 --> 00:40:36,000
Erla waited while we carried
the body into the Land Rover
376
00:40:36,000 --> 00:40:37,160
and put him in the back.
377
00:40:42,040 --> 00:40:45,040
We then drove all the way
to Raudholar.
378
00:40:49,160 --> 00:40:52,600
We dug a hole into the red gravel
just big enough to fit the body.
379
00:41:47,840 --> 00:41:52,320
State radio calls up the Prime
Minister to get his reaction.
380
00:41:52,320 --> 00:41:54,400
He says the nightmare is over.
381
00:43:00,680 --> 00:43:03,360
The public just wanted our blood.
382
00:43:05,000 --> 00:43:09,440
There was so much pressure
on authorities to convict all of us
383
00:43:09,440 --> 00:43:11,440
and get us really good,
384
00:43:11,440 --> 00:43:16,800
and there was no-one that actually
did not believe all this.
385
00:43:48,680 --> 00:43:53,040
Now the accused had the opportunity
to present their cases,
386
00:43:53,040 --> 00:43:57,800
and they did. What they said
was that they were innocent.
387
00:43:59,000 --> 00:44:01,360
There was a lack of evidence,
388
00:44:01,360 --> 00:44:03,200
there were no bodies,
389
00:44:03,200 --> 00:44:07,160
and the whole case was nonsense -
390
00:44:07,160 --> 00:44:12,320
but even though they were
withdrawing their testimonies,
391
00:44:12,320 --> 00:44:17,760
people believed they had killed
those two men, end of story.
392
00:44:19,600 --> 00:44:23,080
I was found guilty of the
embezzlement, of course,
393
00:44:23,080 --> 00:44:28,680
and perjury, that I had
intentionally framed innocent people
394
00:44:28,680 --> 00:44:30,720
for something they didn't do.
395
00:45:29,640 --> 00:45:34,200
In the end, the police arrested
the right people in both cases.
396
00:45:41,200 --> 00:45:43,680
It was always with the feeling
397
00:45:43,680 --> 00:45:47,120
that he was some sort of a
Satanic criminal,
398
00:45:47,120 --> 00:45:49,520
and I was supposed to have been
399
00:45:49,520 --> 00:45:52,880
this submissive but
monstrous person, as well.
400
00:45:55,080 --> 00:45:58,120
The image that we were given
401
00:45:58,120 --> 00:46:02,040
was very much like Charles Manson
and his girlfriend.
402
00:46:07,400 --> 00:46:10,440
The Minister of Justice
thanks Karl Schutz
403
00:46:10,440 --> 00:46:15,000
"for unburdening the Icelandic
nation of a nightmare."
404
00:46:15,000 --> 00:46:19,720
Obviously, the Minister of Justice
was assuming, case solved.
405
00:46:19,720 --> 00:46:24,200
What he didn't say - "This is the
beginning of an endless nightmare,
406
00:46:24,200 --> 00:46:26,200
"and this nightmare
is still going to this day."
407
00:46:34,400 --> 00:46:38,280
I don't think I had a clear thought
for years through all this.
408
00:46:39,960 --> 00:46:46,360
I felt like I was drowning in so
much confusion and so much guilt.
409
00:46:49,840 --> 00:46:54,600
Your thoughts can take over,
and your mind becomes a monster.
410
00:46:58,320 --> 00:47:00,000
"What of this am I remembering...
411
00:47:01,640 --> 00:47:04,480
"..and what is missing
that I'm not remembering?"
412
00:47:11,240 --> 00:47:13,080
Memory is such a fickle thing.
413
00:47:27,840 --> 00:47:29,280
The day I got out,
414
00:47:29,280 --> 00:47:31,720
all I could think was,
"My daughter's on the other side."
415
00:47:33,360 --> 00:47:37,600
Man, I had prepared for days,
you know, to look right,
416
00:47:37,600 --> 00:47:40,640
and, you know,
have the right things to say...
417
00:47:42,720 --> 00:47:48,320
..and she had this bouquet
of flowers, and...
418
00:47:49,360 --> 00:47:52,400
..it was the happiest day ever.
419
00:47:57,640 --> 00:48:03,200
When I was released,
I was basically two things -
420
00:48:03,200 --> 00:48:06,760
I provoked curiosity,
and I was despised...
421
00:48:08,120 --> 00:48:11,720
..and people felt free
to express it,
422
00:48:11,720 --> 00:48:14,120
like spitting in my face.
423
00:48:20,880 --> 00:48:25,600
The first time Saevar and I ever
talked about what had happened...
424
00:48:27,480 --> 00:48:31,280
..it was literally
that kind of moment, like,
425
00:48:31,280 --> 00:48:33,280
"What the hell happened to us?"
426
00:48:33,280 --> 00:48:35,800
You know, "What was it all about?"
427
00:48:42,000 --> 00:48:46,480
He went through years of anger...
428
00:48:46,480 --> 00:48:49,520
blaming me for everything...
429
00:48:51,560 --> 00:48:55,600
..and I went through
incredible guilt
430
00:48:55,600 --> 00:48:59,480
for having testified against him.
431
00:49:03,600 --> 00:49:07,760
There were so many years
where we just couldn't...
432
00:49:07,760 --> 00:49:11,680
connect, and it had so much
to do with, you know...
433
00:49:11,680 --> 00:49:17,160
Our relationship had been invaded
by such dark powers.
434
00:49:33,640 --> 00:49:37,920
It was very difficult to be Saevar
Ciesielski here in Iceland,
435
00:49:37,920 --> 00:49:39,960
in this small society.
436
00:49:41,760 --> 00:49:44,760
He somehow became the evil
437
00:49:44,760 --> 00:49:48,080
for, like, I don't know,
90% of the Icelanders.
438
00:49:48,080 --> 00:49:50,880
Just evil incarnate.
439
00:49:54,920 --> 00:49:58,520
When Saevar came out of prison,
440
00:49:58,520 --> 00:50:01,480
he met a girl,
and they lived together,
441
00:50:01,480 --> 00:50:03,240
and they had two children,
442
00:50:03,240 --> 00:50:05,880
and they even moved to America.
443
00:50:07,560 --> 00:50:13,000
We tried to move to Colorado,
and just start a new, you know,
444
00:50:13,000 --> 00:50:16,240
family there,
away from all this drama,
445
00:50:16,240 --> 00:50:18,800
but he really could not let it go.
446
00:50:18,800 --> 00:50:21,440
He wanted to clear his name.
447
00:50:23,560 --> 00:50:26,800
We decided to go back to Iceland.
448
00:50:26,800 --> 00:50:28,160
Then he started to...
449
00:50:29,280 --> 00:50:32,480
..you know, really try to fight
this case.
450
00:51:30,400 --> 00:51:32,640
I collected the information
of documents,
451
00:51:32,640 --> 00:51:36,720
trying to understand
what had happened,
452
00:51:36,720 --> 00:51:40,120
the evidence of the case itself.
453
00:51:40,120 --> 00:51:42,400
I saw the flaws.
454
00:51:42,400 --> 00:51:44,320
They were so obvious.
455
00:51:46,200 --> 00:51:48,600
Usually, in murder cases,
456
00:51:48,600 --> 00:51:52,000
you have the place where
the crime was committed,
457
00:51:52,000 --> 00:51:55,360
you have bodies, you have motives.
458
00:51:58,240 --> 00:52:01,480
They had no such
traditional evidence at all.
459
00:52:02,920 --> 00:52:07,440
They only had the statements
made by the accused themselves.
460
00:52:17,800 --> 00:52:20,360
My legal arguments
were quite tight...
461
00:52:21,480 --> 00:52:25,320
..and the facts were all in favour
of reopening the case.
462
00:52:26,920 --> 00:52:29,720
I presented all this
to the Supreme Court.
463
00:53:39,400 --> 00:53:42,200
APPLAUSE
464
00:53:42,200 --> 00:53:45,440
He had a lot of support already
at that time.
465
00:53:45,440 --> 00:53:49,120
People were obviously not believing
466
00:53:49,120 --> 00:53:51,760
in the correctness of the
conclusions of the courts.
467
00:54:12,480 --> 00:54:17,440
I saw a lot of Saevar
after he lost his battle.
468
00:54:17,440 --> 00:54:20,840
He had put his entire existence
into this,
469
00:54:20,840 --> 00:54:24,240
and, you know,
where was he going to go from there?
470
00:54:26,520 --> 00:54:28,600
I mean, in his world,
there were no options.
471
00:54:31,040 --> 00:54:36,000
I always knew there was something
really dark and bad
472
00:54:36,000 --> 00:54:37,760
that happened to my father.
473
00:54:38,960 --> 00:54:42,280
Years and years of trying to fight
the system,
474
00:54:42,280 --> 00:54:45,320
and that, in the end,
just tore him apart completely.
475
00:54:46,880 --> 00:54:50,520
Many people knew Saevar
only from the streets.
476
00:54:50,520 --> 00:54:53,280
He was a heavy drinker,
a broken man.
477
00:54:56,840 --> 00:54:59,720
He was a famous man by that time,
478
00:54:59,720 --> 00:55:02,880
and people were kind of mellowing
towards him.
479
00:55:04,920 --> 00:55:07,280
He still had this charm.
480
00:55:07,280 --> 00:55:09,960
He might be drunk and drugged,
481
00:55:09,960 --> 00:55:13,680
but he always, or usually,
kept his charm.
482
00:55:13,680 --> 00:55:16,360
But of course,
it was very, very sad.
483
00:55:52,920 --> 00:55:56,720
He was really emotional in the end
about this whole thing,
484
00:55:56,720 --> 00:56:00,600
and it was pretty hard
to watch that happen,
485
00:56:00,600 --> 00:56:03,600
you know, in slow motion
in front of you.
486
00:56:11,280 --> 00:56:14,600
Everybody had followed
Saevar's journey...
487
00:56:16,080 --> 00:56:20,520
..because he fought many battles
to prove his innocence,
488
00:56:20,520 --> 00:56:22,320
with no results.
489
00:56:26,560 --> 00:56:29,720
His funeral was held
at the cathedral downtown,
490
00:56:29,720 --> 00:56:32,680
and it was totally packed,
491
00:56:32,680 --> 00:56:35,640
from the street people
to politicians.
492
00:56:46,600 --> 00:56:49,520
When he died, it hit the news.
493
00:56:49,520 --> 00:56:53,480
His relatives, Erla,
and his children,
494
00:56:53,480 --> 00:56:59,880
came forward and talked about this
case, talked about his battles,
495
00:56:59,880 --> 00:57:07,400
and pushed that this case should be
reopened and reinvestigated.
496
00:57:10,320 --> 00:57:14,480
That's when I thought maybe
I should do something about it.
497
00:57:16,840 --> 00:57:19,960
As a reporter,
when you look at this case,
498
00:57:19,960 --> 00:57:25,120
you're warned that you might
be stepping into a black hole -
499
00:57:25,120 --> 00:57:29,840
and once you look into it,
you just can't stop.
500
00:57:32,880 --> 00:57:37,800
I had filmed a couple of interviews
with people related to this case,
501
00:57:37,800 --> 00:57:41,320
and then I decided to speak
to Tryggvi's widow.
502
00:57:42,480 --> 00:57:47,400
My mum called me and said that there
was this woman from the news
503
00:57:47,400 --> 00:57:52,480
coming to interview her
regarding my dad's case,
504
00:57:52,480 --> 00:57:55,680
and asked if I wanted to
come and be with them.
505
00:57:59,440 --> 00:58:06,200
There was something in my mind
that said that this could be useful,
506
00:58:06,200 --> 00:58:12,400
because I didn't want my dad
to be remembered as a murderer.
507
00:58:19,400 --> 00:58:22,680
When we arrived, his daughter
was there, Kristin,
508
00:58:22,680 --> 00:58:27,240
and she said, "I have something
you might be interested in.
509
00:58:27,240 --> 00:58:32,480
"I have my father's diaries
from when he was in prison."
510
00:58:32,480 --> 00:58:35,320
I just wanted her to see them,
511
00:58:35,320 --> 00:58:39,200
and I didn't think it would have
any more meaning than that.
512
00:58:39,200 --> 00:58:43,160
I just wanted her to see something
from my dad.
513
00:58:43,160 --> 00:58:45,040
A piece of him.
514
00:58:46,280 --> 00:58:51,400
When she showed me the diaries,
there was a long title.
515
00:58:53,080 --> 00:58:54,200
It read,
516
00:58:54,200 --> 00:58:57,400
"This is the diary
of an innocent man
517
00:58:57,400 --> 00:59:03,520
"who is accused of a very serious
thing in a very serious case."
518
00:59:05,000 --> 00:59:08,120
"April 25th, 1977.
519
00:59:08,120 --> 00:59:11,960
"So, now, I have been here
continuously for 16 months
520
00:59:11,960 --> 00:59:13,760
"and 11 days in custody,
521
00:59:13,760 --> 00:59:17,400
"including 14 months in isolation,
totally alone.
522
00:59:21,880 --> 00:59:23,560
"I shall hold fast.
523
00:59:23,560 --> 00:59:25,520
"I don't have to be afraid,
524
00:59:25,520 --> 00:59:29,840
"as I'm innocent, and justice
always prevails in the end."
525
00:59:35,320 --> 00:59:37,840
I realised at that point...
526
00:59:38,920 --> 00:59:41,520
..we had something new.
527
00:59:41,520 --> 00:59:44,600
We had something to report on.
528
00:59:44,600 --> 00:59:48,440
So, I thought we would have to get
a specialist's opinion.
529
00:59:52,520 --> 00:59:58,280
Gisli Gudjonsson is a world-leading
expert on false confessions.
530
00:59:58,280 --> 01:00:03,240
An Icelander who has practised
in the UK for 40 years.
531
01:00:05,320 --> 01:00:08,760
I was thinking, the diaries,
they need to go to Gisli.
532
01:00:08,760 --> 01:00:10,840
He is the person.
533
01:00:10,840 --> 01:00:13,280
If anybody should see them,
it's got to be him...
534
01:00:14,600 --> 01:00:17,080
..but I was so nervous.
535
01:00:17,080 --> 01:00:20,360
I was afraid that Gisli would say
that...
536
01:00:22,200 --> 01:00:26,520
..even though he wrote that he was
an innocent man, maybe he wasn't.
537
01:00:32,680 --> 01:00:35,000
I could not say from
reading the diaries,
538
01:00:35,000 --> 01:00:38,320
this man is innocent or not,
because it's not for me to say -
539
01:00:38,320 --> 01:00:43,800
but he was stating his innocence
and explaining why,
540
01:00:43,800 --> 01:00:47,080
and that suggested
that this was new material,
541
01:00:47,080 --> 01:00:50,120
and I thought the case
should be reviewed again.
542
01:00:52,760 --> 01:00:58,600
The key implication was that perhaps
the confessions were not reliable.
543
01:01:03,200 --> 01:01:06,880
I was so relieved.
544
01:01:06,880 --> 01:01:10,680
That was the biggest scoop.
545
01:01:21,800 --> 01:01:27,000
My story was broadcast,
and it got massive attention -
546
01:01:27,000 --> 01:01:29,920
and I think in the same week,
547
01:01:29,920 --> 01:01:33,400
the ministry announced that
the investigation committee
548
01:01:33,400 --> 01:01:35,400
would be established.
549
01:01:35,400 --> 01:01:38,760
I decided to put down a commission
550
01:01:38,760 --> 01:01:43,640
to look into the investigation,
and the methods used
551
01:01:43,640 --> 01:01:45,440
in the investigation,
552
01:01:45,440 --> 01:01:49,240
and how these confessions
were obtained.
553
01:02:00,120 --> 01:02:03,400
We went through thousands of pages.
554
01:02:03,400 --> 01:02:06,440
Police reports,
handwritten notes from the police,
555
01:02:06,440 --> 01:02:09,760
reports taken from prison guards.
556
01:02:11,880 --> 01:02:15,120
It was quite obvious when we looked
into the prison diaries
557
01:02:15,120 --> 01:02:17,360
that many records were missing.
558
01:02:18,880 --> 01:02:23,080
The convicted had a lack of access
to their attorneys,
559
01:02:23,080 --> 01:02:26,880
and they were interrogated many,
many times more often
560
01:02:26,880 --> 01:02:29,480
than the police reports indicated.
561
01:02:31,520 --> 01:02:33,200
Saevar, for example -
562
01:02:33,200 --> 01:02:39,840
he had been interrogated 180 times
for 340 hours.
563
01:02:41,200 --> 01:02:45,400
He had been in solitary
for 615 days.
564
01:02:48,240 --> 01:02:52,240
Erla was interrogated 105 times.
565
01:02:58,760 --> 01:03:03,840
Tryggvi was kept in solitary
for the longest -
566
01:03:03,840 --> 01:03:05,960
for 655 days total.
567
01:03:07,240 --> 01:03:13,440
It became very clear to us that many
things were going seriously wrong
568
01:03:13,440 --> 01:03:14,840
under the investigation.
569
01:03:39,040 --> 01:03:41,440
The key findings of the commission
570
01:03:41,440 --> 01:03:46,720
were that these confessions
571
01:03:46,720 --> 01:03:50,040
were in all likelihood fabricated.
572
01:03:50,040 --> 01:03:55,120
People had been admitting
to something they didn't do.
573
01:03:55,120 --> 01:03:58,720
I have never worked on a case,
anywhere in the world,
574
01:03:58,720 --> 01:04:01,280
where there'd been so many
interrogations,
575
01:04:01,280 --> 01:04:03,280
and such lengthy interrogations.
576
01:04:03,280 --> 01:04:04,560
This is quite exceptional.
577
01:04:08,360 --> 01:04:12,920
This is the only case I know of
where so many individuals
578
01:04:12,920 --> 01:04:16,040
have had their memories distorted
to this extent.
579
01:04:18,680 --> 01:04:23,640
Five of the six had what I call
a memory distrust syndrome.
580
01:04:25,720 --> 01:04:27,560
The person begins to think,
581
01:04:27,560 --> 01:04:30,920
"Maybe something did happen,
and I didn't remember it."
582
01:04:33,960 --> 01:04:36,400
When I read the report,
583
01:04:36,400 --> 01:04:40,560
I was really faced with how
incredibly unreliable memory is.
584
01:04:46,160 --> 01:04:48,080
"What of this am I remembering..."
585
01:04:58,440 --> 01:05:01,480
"..and what is missing
that I'm not remembering?
586
01:05:05,160 --> 01:05:07,840
This whole thing
starts with a confession...
587
01:05:09,000 --> 01:05:11,960
..where Erla was under
no pressure at all.
588
01:05:13,680 --> 01:05:17,520
It's she that tells them
that they were involved
589
01:05:17,520 --> 01:05:19,360
in the killing of Gudmundur.
590
01:05:21,400 --> 01:05:23,280
The police had been explaining
591
01:05:23,280 --> 01:05:26,320
that often when people
experience something
592
01:05:26,320 --> 01:05:28,720
that is too much for them to handle,
593
01:05:28,720 --> 01:05:33,360
they bury it somewhere,
and they cannot recall it...
594
01:05:33,360 --> 01:05:34,520
and they said,
595
01:05:34,520 --> 01:05:39,080
"We know how to help you remember if
you did witness something terrible."
596
01:06:00,160 --> 01:06:02,480
They formed a crack in my mind...
597
01:06:03,640 --> 01:06:07,800
..and then they just got in there,
and worked on it...
598
01:06:24,160 --> 01:06:26,120
..and that was my horror -
599
01:06:26,120 --> 01:06:28,400
to face the possibility
600
01:06:28,400 --> 01:06:33,360
that Saevar would have resorted
to cutting up a human being.
601
01:06:39,040 --> 01:06:43,320
Through all this exchange,
this story came out.
602
01:06:43,320 --> 01:06:46,320
Almost like a genie, you know,
or something -
603
01:06:46,320 --> 01:06:52,360
and for a long time, I asked myself,
"Who made that story?"
604
01:06:52,360 --> 01:06:58,280
Did I make it, or...?
How did that, you know, transpire?
605
01:06:58,280 --> 01:07:01,880
At the time that Erla
was questioned...
606
01:07:03,040 --> 01:07:08,240
..in the Gudmundur case,
she was a very vulnerable person.
607
01:07:08,240 --> 01:07:11,360
It is likely that
the police officers
608
01:07:11,360 --> 01:07:14,040
had, in their own mind, a scenario
609
01:07:14,040 --> 01:07:17,560
of what had happened
to Gudmundur Einarsson,
610
01:07:17,560 --> 01:07:19,840
and over time,
611
01:07:19,840 --> 01:07:23,880
Erla began to believe that maybe
Saevar and his friends
612
01:07:23,880 --> 01:07:25,080
HAD been involved.
613
01:07:27,240 --> 01:07:31,680
Once she began to express doubt
in her own memory,
614
01:07:31,680 --> 01:07:33,440
the police went for it.
615
01:07:34,760 --> 01:07:35,800
DOORBELL RINGS
616
01:07:40,920 --> 01:07:43,880
Now, the police
were going to come after me
617
01:07:43,880 --> 01:07:45,600
about what happened to Geirfinnur.
618
01:07:52,320 --> 01:07:56,000
In one version, Saevar had hit him
with a wooden log,
619
01:07:56,000 --> 01:07:58,640
another time, he had kicked him
in the head,
620
01:07:58,640 --> 01:08:02,480
and Kristjan had done it,
and it was all over the place...
621
01:08:10,600 --> 01:08:13,640
..and then they had a warrant
for my arrest.
622
01:08:18,600 --> 01:08:22,240
At that point, I felt so guilty...
623
01:08:23,720 --> 01:08:28,640
..and I was so responsible for
ruining so many people's lives...
624
01:08:29,800 --> 01:08:36,600
..that...it was not too much
for me to take it on me.
625
01:08:36,600 --> 01:08:37,560
GUNSHOT
626
01:09:02,720 --> 01:09:07,280
The police were faced
with a huge dilemma.
627
01:09:07,280 --> 01:09:12,160
They had confessions,
but they had no substance.
628
01:09:12,160 --> 01:09:15,360
There was nothing tangible that came
out of those interrogations...
629
01:09:16,920 --> 01:09:20,680
..and the country wanted an answer.
630
01:09:20,680 --> 01:09:23,400
What happened to
Geirfinnur Einarsson?
631
01:09:35,000 --> 01:09:38,200
To come to Sidumuli Prison,
632
01:09:38,200 --> 01:09:42,600
when the cases of Gudmundur
and Geirfinnur started...
633
01:09:42,600 --> 01:09:44,400
it was another world.
634
01:09:48,720 --> 01:09:50,360
The atmosphere in Sidumuli
635
01:09:50,360 --> 01:09:53,080
was very intense.
636
01:09:55,000 --> 01:10:01,120
The attitude amongst the guards
and the policemen
637
01:10:01,120 --> 01:10:04,240
was that these people
were murderers.
638
01:10:04,240 --> 01:10:07,760
The more pressure,
the sooner they would confess.
639
01:10:12,080 --> 01:10:15,120
The guards despised Saevar.
640
01:10:15,120 --> 01:10:17,960
They called him "the rat."
641
01:10:20,320 --> 01:10:26,440
The one thing to break him down
was to rid him of sleep.
642
01:10:28,600 --> 01:10:32,560
There was a light, day and night,
24 hours,
643
01:10:32,560 --> 01:10:35,400
and during the night,
644
01:10:35,400 --> 01:10:40,280
they would knock on the wall
where he was inside.
645
01:10:43,000 --> 01:10:46,440
That was to keep him awake.
646
01:10:46,440 --> 01:10:48,200
WATER RUNS
647
01:10:49,240 --> 01:10:53,560
Saevar was afraid of water.
648
01:10:55,560 --> 01:11:02,440
They took him, and immersed
his head into the water...
649
01:11:06,040 --> 01:11:11,360
..and said they would drown him
if he didn't confess.
650
01:11:12,760 --> 01:11:17,720
Those guards who did it, they
enjoyed it and were proud of it,
651
01:11:17,720 --> 01:11:20,800
and laughed about it,
of "drowning the rat."
652
01:11:28,760 --> 01:11:31,280
This was a heavy-handed
investigation.
653
01:11:31,280 --> 01:11:32,640
This was heavy.
654
01:11:32,640 --> 01:11:35,520
Albert Klahn went berserk in custody
after a few days.
655
01:11:36,760 --> 01:11:40,040
Tryggvi Runar had to be,
after four nights of sleeplessness,
656
01:11:40,040 --> 01:11:42,080
sedated by an injection.
657
01:11:43,320 --> 01:11:46,080
Kristjan Vidar tried
to kill himself twice.
658
01:11:48,920 --> 01:11:54,840
It's breaking down that core -
your capacity to really say,
659
01:11:54,840 --> 01:11:56,760
"I know that did not happen."
660
01:11:58,000 --> 01:12:01,960
Once that's broken down,
you are very vulnerable.
661
01:12:05,560 --> 01:12:07,200
"There was nothing but waiting.
662
01:12:08,520 --> 01:12:12,000
"Waiting for the next interrogation,
wondering what I would say.
663
01:12:13,600 --> 01:12:15,560
"In the cell,
I could do nothing but think.
664
01:12:17,600 --> 01:12:19,080
"I grew into the walls.
665
01:12:21,920 --> 01:12:25,240
"I could not feel my body -
I was just head."
666
01:12:34,400 --> 01:12:38,640
There is a picture which really was
accepted by the court,
667
01:12:38,640 --> 01:12:41,040
where Kristjan Vidar
is kind of enacting
668
01:12:41,040 --> 01:12:43,280
what happened to Geirfinnur.
669
01:12:45,400 --> 01:12:48,680
Here is what happened -
there's a photograph of it,
670
01:12:48,680 --> 01:12:50,440
exactly how it took place.
671
01:12:54,200 --> 01:12:58,000
Once you have enacted something,
you're showing how you did it,
672
01:12:58,000 --> 01:13:00,600
it may have a damaging effect
673
01:13:00,600 --> 01:13:04,080
in the sense that it may
reinforce that memory.
674
01:13:06,200 --> 01:13:09,480
You begin to think it did actually
happen like that.
675
01:13:37,320 --> 01:13:38,440
HE SPEAKS IN ICELANDIC
676
01:13:40,760 --> 01:13:44,680
It was four times a day that they
brought pills that I had to take,
677
01:13:44,680 --> 01:13:47,040
and all of them had
one thing in common,
678
01:13:47,040 --> 01:13:48,880
and that was,
they were tranquillising.
679
01:13:55,560 --> 01:13:57,520
I wasn't allowed to go outside.
680
01:13:59,320 --> 01:14:02,480
It was complete isolation.
681
01:14:04,720 --> 01:14:09,240
Very soon, you shrink down
to this helpless baby.
682
01:14:10,360 --> 01:14:12,160
Your mentality and your
intelligence...
683
01:14:12,160 --> 01:14:14,480
everything just shrinks,
684
01:14:14,480 --> 01:14:18,000
and you're in this abstract world.
685
01:14:28,920 --> 01:14:33,240
You know, I really
just...needed to die...
686
01:14:33,240 --> 01:14:35,200
but this one...
687
01:14:35,200 --> 01:14:38,640
one tie, with the baby...
688
01:14:38,640 --> 01:14:41,000
was the thing that didn't
allow me to do that.
689
01:14:44,480 --> 01:14:47,520
When I thought about her...
690
01:14:47,520 --> 01:14:50,280
I couldn't picture her.
691
01:14:50,280 --> 01:14:53,200
I couldn't see her face...
692
01:14:53,200 --> 01:14:55,920
and then I knew I was going crazy,
693
01:14:55,920 --> 01:15:00,520
and I even wondered,
"Did I ever even have a baby?
694
01:15:00,520 --> 01:15:04,040
"Is that also my imagination?
695
01:15:04,040 --> 01:15:08,000
"Because I could swear
that I feel that I do...
696
01:15:08,000 --> 01:15:09,680
"but no picture is coming."
697
01:15:28,720 --> 01:15:34,840
The criminal police told her
that in order to get out,
698
01:15:34,840 --> 01:15:38,040
she had to tell everything,
699
01:15:38,040 --> 01:15:41,880
and therefore,
she told and told and told -
700
01:15:41,880 --> 01:15:43,720
much too much.
701
01:15:45,040 --> 01:15:50,440
This case is probably the first one
that the police feels pressure
702
01:15:50,440 --> 01:15:53,440
from the press and from the public.
703
01:15:54,640 --> 01:15:59,000
They had this fact that these people
were missing, they had...
704
01:15:59,000 --> 01:16:00,600
confessions, if you like,
705
01:16:00,600 --> 01:16:04,280
from some of the people that
had been involved in killing them...
706
01:16:05,920 --> 01:16:10,400
..but they always were changing
the stories of who did what.
707
01:16:12,000 --> 01:16:13,880
HE SPEAKS IN GERMAN
708
01:16:19,560 --> 01:16:22,920
Karl Schutz is brought in
by the Minister of Justice
709
01:16:22,920 --> 01:16:25,240
to harmonise the confessions,
710
01:16:25,240 --> 01:16:28,920
and to make them credible
in terms of the court of law.
711
01:16:30,360 --> 01:16:35,120
He is very much in charge,
driving the investigation.
712
01:16:37,560 --> 01:16:41,200
Everything was focused on
proving that they were guilty.
713
01:16:42,960 --> 01:16:45,720
Karl Schutz
taught the Icelandic detectives
714
01:16:45,720 --> 01:16:47,560
a new way of interrogating.
715
01:16:49,480 --> 01:16:53,240
Basically, it involved
coming at suspects
716
01:16:53,240 --> 01:16:55,320
from many different directions.
717
01:16:57,240 --> 01:16:59,400
They would jump
from one time to another
718
01:16:59,400 --> 01:17:02,160
to trick them into
revealing the truth.
719
01:17:04,000 --> 01:17:06,240
The police suggest things -
720
01:17:06,240 --> 01:17:09,320
"Could it have been this way,
could it have been that way?"
721
01:17:09,320 --> 01:17:13,360
and the person persuades himself
perhaps he was present,
722
01:17:13,360 --> 01:17:15,360
and begins to believe it.
723
01:17:18,680 --> 01:17:21,480
When Gudjon Skarphedinsson
was arrested,
724
01:17:21,480 --> 01:17:24,080
his statements...
725
01:17:25,160 --> 01:17:29,240
..were very important
in closing up the case.
726
01:17:51,320 --> 01:17:52,960
It's the same...
727
01:17:53,960 --> 01:17:57,040
..routine, again and again.
728
01:17:57,040 --> 01:18:00,880
Did we bury him somewhere
or throw him in the ocean?
729
01:18:00,880 --> 01:18:02,320
Where was the car?
730
01:18:02,320 --> 01:18:04,320
Who else was involved?
731
01:18:04,320 --> 01:18:05,880
What was it all about?
732
01:18:07,600 --> 01:18:09,240
You get tired,
733
01:18:09,240 --> 01:18:15,120
and you don't know whether you're
dreaming or remembering things.
734
01:18:17,200 --> 01:18:19,440
I got completely confused.
735
01:18:21,080 --> 01:18:26,200
It came like clips from a movie
into your mind.
736
01:18:46,040 --> 01:18:48,520
In the end, you feel
you have been there...
737
01:18:50,040 --> 01:18:52,560
..that this has really happened.
738
01:18:58,000 --> 01:19:01,920
You wonder, "What else has happened
that I don't remember?"
739
01:19:04,880 --> 01:19:07,720
You can't trust your own mind.
740
01:19:09,680 --> 01:19:12,760
It's sort of like somebody
pulls the carpet from underneath,
741
01:19:12,760 --> 01:19:15,680
and you're standing in thin air,
742
01:19:15,680 --> 01:19:18,880
and you don't know
where the ground is.
743
01:19:30,680 --> 01:19:33,480
From the beginning,
there was presumption of guilt.
744
01:19:34,800 --> 01:19:37,800
Nobody seemed to consider
the possibility
745
01:19:37,800 --> 01:19:39,960
that these people might be innocent,
746
01:19:39,960 --> 01:19:43,120
and that they did not know
what had happened
747
01:19:43,120 --> 01:19:45,040
to Gudmundur and Geirfinnur.
748
01:19:45,040 --> 01:19:49,160
Once the confession is taken,
once it's in the air,
749
01:19:49,160 --> 01:19:50,960
it corrupts everything else.
750
01:19:53,400 --> 01:19:58,960
My feeling is that the police
was under that much pressure
751
01:19:58,960 --> 01:20:03,560
that once they were on this journey,
and went down that track...
752
01:20:04,640 --> 01:20:07,280
..there was no turning back.
753
01:20:07,280 --> 01:20:09,120
The rumour here in Iceland
754
01:20:09,120 --> 01:20:12,080
is that it's all a conspiracy
by the police -
755
01:20:12,080 --> 01:20:14,000
I'm telling you it's not.
756
01:20:15,360 --> 01:20:18,200
These were honest guys
trying to do their best,
757
01:20:18,200 --> 01:20:20,680
and they did the right thing.
758
01:20:20,680 --> 01:20:23,280
In the end,
it's the prosecution system
759
01:20:23,280 --> 01:20:25,360
that has to decide what to do
760
01:20:25,360 --> 01:20:28,400
with the result
of a police investigation.
761
01:20:29,600 --> 01:20:33,560
I think we are learning
from this case.
762
01:20:33,560 --> 01:20:36,480
We're looking into a mirror.
763
01:20:36,480 --> 01:20:41,520
When there's been a miscarriage
of justice, lives are destroyed.
764
01:20:41,520 --> 01:20:45,240
It's terribly important
that the truth emerges,
765
01:20:45,240 --> 01:20:49,040
and that we correct the injustices
that have been done.
766
01:20:50,480 --> 01:20:54,200
This was a witch hunt
that did much harm.
767
01:20:55,360 --> 01:20:57,440
I remember saying to myself,
768
01:20:57,440 --> 01:21:02,880
"How did it come about that I was
caught up in this public hysteria?"
769
01:21:02,880 --> 01:21:05,320
And it brought out...
770
01:21:05,320 --> 01:21:08,440
bad things in people, you know?
771
01:21:08,440 --> 01:21:11,160
And that's what we're still
recovering from.
772
01:21:22,360 --> 01:21:25,200
It's still difficult for me
to see those pictures.
773
01:21:27,240 --> 01:21:31,520
It's just so painful
to see this child,
774
01:21:31,520 --> 01:21:34,840
because I'm connecting
to what she went through -
775
01:21:34,840 --> 01:21:38,640
but it still isn't really me.
776
01:21:40,680 --> 01:21:42,520
It's always somebody else.
777
01:21:44,680 --> 01:21:49,600
And...it leaves you pretty crazy,
you know?
64019
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