– The one who should be punished in this case is NTNU, insisted Brynjulf ​​Risnes, a German-Iranian lawyer accused of violating sanctions provisions against Iran.

The trial began on Monday, and three weeks have been set aside for the case. The defendant answered clearly and unequivocally no to the guilty question during the initial negotiations.

In front of university newspaper the lawyer directed his scathing criticism at the university management.

– If the court concludes that there is a crime here, NTNU should be punished by corporations, that’s normal, he said.

Suspended in 2019

Risnes has represented the accused since being dismissed from his position as a professor at NTNU in the fall of 2019. The man, who resigned from the university and now lives in Qatar, was questioned by the Swedish Prosecutor’s Office. along with his wife because he had let four Iranian visiting researchers into a laboratory to which they had no access.

In this lab, among other things, they get to know the so-called SEM microscope, which should be treated as a sensitive technology that researchers from countries like Iran, Russia and China should not have access to.

The male lawyer was very critical of the actions of the NTNU management both before and after the incident.

– Managers at various levels do not yet have the necessary picture of who enters and leaves the laboratory equipped with SEM microscopes, claims Risnes.

NTNU employees allege: – Big misunderstanding

– This makes it very wrong for individual professors to be held accountable.

Claims he informed the manager

– But your client has actually given four guest researchers access to the aforementioned nanolab, no dispute about that, right?

– No, but there is a dispute about whether he has informed the manager about this, replied Risnes.

Lawyers are clear here that NTNU management has given the role of scapegoat to their clients.

– We will send email correspondence showing the extensive correspondence he has with management. People go in and out of this lab every day, without those in charge having an overview. Then it is very bad to blame just one professor.

– Confidence means a crisis for academics

Brynjulf ​​Risnes points out that job protection is strong in academia.

– With one special exception: If someone has committed a crime, it’s done and done. Here we are aware of the particular fact that PST started the investigation early on, and NTNU will soon be suspended – with the promise of further dismissals. Then my client went ahead of them, and chose to resign.

The former NTNU professor officially faces up to 10 years in prison, but it is reported that the prosecutor’s office will seek a much lower sentence. But according to his lawyer, it was the client’s former employer who should have been on the dock.

– I really hope my client is released completely – otherwise there is a crisis for the whole academic world. NTNU’s management has acted despicably in this regard. They have let their former employees down completely, claims lawyer Brynjulf ​​Risnes.