Far-left leader resigns after sunglasses are stolen

“I made a big mistake and then I made it worse with the way I handled it,” admitted Bjorner Mogsnes.

Norway’s far-left leader and member of parliament, Bjorner Mogsnes, resigned as leader of his party on Monday after he was caught stealing designer sunglasses from a store at Oslo airport.

“I made a big mistake and then made it worse by the way I handled it,” wrote Bjorner Moxnes. His Facebook page. “I’m very sorry for that and I want to apologize.”

On June 30, Bjørnar Moxnes said he was fined 3,000 kroner (250 euro) two weeks earlier for taking Hugo Boss sunglasses worth 1,199 kroner (about 100 euro) without paying for them at a duty-free shop at Oslo airport.

He was the leader of the party for 11 years

The 41-year-old politician had pleaded not guilty but had repeatedly changed his version of the revelations of the episode captured by CCTV cameras, which weakens the hypothesis of an oversight.

Currently on sick leave, Bjørnar Moxnes is giving up his post as leader of the opposition party Rødt (“Red” in French), which he led for 11 years and helped grow to win seven seats in parliament in the 2021 legislative election.

According to the rules in force in Norway, during the term of office it is not possible to relinquish elective functions, such as deputyship. Marie Snave Martinussen, 37, the party’s second-in-command until then, is temporarily taking over the reins of formation.