Reykjavík Grapevine - 02.06.2017, Síða 6

Artichokes

NEWS On September 14, 2014, a
woman in Ísafjörður was raped by
two men. Immediately afterwards,
the survivor did everything they
tell you you’re supposed to do: she
sought medical attention at the
local clinic, Fjórðungssjúkrahúsið,
where she was examined and bio-
logical samples were taken, and the
police were contacted right away.
However, carelessness on the part of
the people entrusted with investigat-
ing such cases led to the entire case
being undermined and collapsing. In
the wake of this, the victim is now fil-
ing a civil suit against her attackers.
What exactly went wrong?
First of all, the men in question were
not arrested and questioned right away.
This, Ísafjörður police chief Karl Ingi
Vilbergsson told reporters, was because
a doctor from the clinic came to the
police and requested the rape kit back,
and would also not disclose who the
survivor in question was.
In December 2014, she
filed charges. When the
suspects arrived in Iceland
in February 2015, they were
called in to the police for
questioning. This is when
the police asked the clin-
ic for the evidence back.
The following month, the
clinic responded that the
evidence had been sent.
Summer arrived. The
police submitted their case
to the state prosecutor, who in turn asked
for the evidence. The police, realising
they never actually received it, contact-
ed the clinic in August of that year. The
police were informed that the evidence
in question had, in fact, been destroyed,
three weeks prior to their request in
February, and had thus not been sent
in March, despite what the clinic told
them. As such, the case was dropped.
The consequences
As is often the case in the wake of a sexual
assault, the survivor suffered from post-
traumatic stress disorder,
moved from Ísafjörður and
dropped out of school. Now,
with the help of lawyer Sigrún
Jóhannsdóttir, she is filing a
civil suit against her attackers.
For context, only one oth-
er civil suit has ever been
filed in Iceland, when a
woman was awarded 1.1
million ISK (just over
€9,700) in a suit she
filed against men who
had gang raped her. In
this instance, the survivor in ques-
tion is seeking full restitution.
When it comes to
vegetables, Iceland
simply seems
unable to get its act
together.
Don’t get me wrong,
Icelanders really do
their best. You can
easily find delicious
strawberries and
three different
types of avocados
at the supermarket,
alongside the
occasional nectarine
shipped from Spain.
Roots, however, are
inevitably in the
majority. Beetroot,
potato, sweet potato,
celeriac, parsnip,
rutabaga... they fill
the shelves of every
grocery store, next
to the greenhouse-
grown tomatoes,
cucumbers and
mushrooms. Yet, in
spite of all the effort,
I find it impossible to
locate a store, chain
or farmers’ market
that sells artichokes.
Artichokes are a
massive source of
iron, which for an
anaemic weakling like
me is pretty much
like having a third
lung. They conjure
up memories of
my grandparents’
house, too—of me
straining my eyes
reading in the middle
of a blackout. As
thunder shakes me,
the comforting scent
of artichoke and pea
cacciatore reaches
my nostrils and it’s
instantly quiet during
the tempest.
It’s summer, and
I’m peeling the bright
purple hair off the
core of the artichokes
on the floor of the
balcony, while my
mother cleans them
of their spiky leaves.
They come off with a
big crack. Soon they’ll
be squished together
in oil-filled jars.
Remembrances
aside, if I managed to
eat fresh artichokes
for once, instead of
having my mother
ship them from
Italy in vacuum-
sealed bags, it
would be a great
accomplishment.
What do you say,
Iceland? Next
Christmas present?
Alice Demurtas
Rape
Investigation
Falls Apart,
Survivor To Sue
First case of it's kind in Iceland
The short answer is no. Here’s Dr
Þorsteinn Sæmundsson from Al-
manak Háskóla Íslands (University
of Iceland Almanac) with the long
answer:
Daylight saving time was first
introduced as an emergency mea-
sure in World War I (1916) to save
fuel and make better use of the
working day. The concept quickly
spread from Germany across Eu-
rope in testing times, arriving
in Iceland in 1917. From 1917 to
1967, daylight saving time was ob-
served across Iceland (with a few
exceptions) and the clocks were
changed twice a year. In winter,
they were set to keep Icelandic
Standard Time (one hour behind
GMT), and in the summer the clocks
were moved forward to GMT. But
Icelanders don’t like hassle, so in
1968 things changed.
The inconvenience of chang-
ing the clocks twice a year, as
well as disruption to timetables
and sleeping patterns (especially
those of small children), were pre-
sented as reasons why Iceland
should stop changing the clocks.
The advantages of daylight saving
time during summer meant that
most people in Iceland preferred
advanced time (GMT) to Icelandic
Standard time. In 1968, Icelandic
Parliament passed a law to perma-
nently keep GMT “summer time” by
putting the clocks forward once
and for all. For 25 years, there was
practically no dissent. Since 1994,
there have been several propos-
als in Parliament to reintroduce
daylight saving time for various
reasons (like the dark winter morn-
ings), but they’ve all failed to pass.
ASK AN
Astrologer
Q: “Do the clocks
change in Iceland?”
Words:
Paul Fontaine
Share:
gpv.is/nws09
"The police
were
informed
that the
evidence
had been
destroyed."
WHAT'S MISSING IN ICELAND
6The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 09 — 2017
The outskirts of Ísafjörður
First
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