Writer warns early release of murderer could invite contract killings

A decision to release a foreign man convicted of killing someone before he had completed his 16-year sentence and deport him could send dangerously damaging messages abroad, author Óskar Magnússon told mbl.is. He described the arrangement as “a ticket for hitmen”.

Sigríður Á. Andersen, a Centre Party MP and former justice minister, agreed that the case sent a poor message. She strongly criticised a temporary amendment to the law that made the release possible.

The comments were made on the Spursmál programme during a discussion of the case of Angjelin Sterkaj, who was sentenced to 16 years in prison for killing Armando Beqirai outside his home in Reykjavík in 2021.

Sigríður said an amendment to the law on the enforcement of sentences, approved this summer, was intended to ease overcrowding in prisons by allowing foreign prisoners to be released early and sent out of the country.

“That does not mean, from my point of view, that foreign nationals should not simply remain in prison and serve their sentences,” she said. She believed this should apply especially in cases involving serious violent offences.

“In my opinion, they should simply remain in prison and complete their sentences, at least when the sentences concern such outrageous crimes as the one at issue here,” Sigríður said.

She also questioned the claim that foreign prisoners had no ties to Iceland, saying that this did not apply in this case. She referred to a Supreme Court judgment stating that Sterkaj had connections to the country, including that he had a child in Iceland and had married there while serving his sentence.

Sigríður said it was troubling if prison capacity or financial considerations were beginning to influence how sentences were enforced. She added that she was not generally an advocate of harsher punishments and believed sentences for various offences, including drug offences, should be reviewed. Violent crimes and murder were different, she said.

Óskar took a stronger position, warning that the arrangement could have serious consequences.

“This is absolutely disgraceful,” he said, arguing that someone could come to Iceland, commit murder, receive a 16-year prison sentence and then leave after serving only part of it.

“This is a ticket for hitmen,” Óskar said. He described a possible message to organised criminal groups abroad: a contract killer could be hired for 30 million, with 10 million paid when the agreement was made, 10 million after the killing and 10 million when the person was released and sent home.