Varg Vikernes

Varg Qisling Larssøn Vikernes, born Kristian Larsson Vikernes, on February 11, 1973, outside of Bergen, Norway. Known by the nom de plume Count Grishnackh during the early days of black metal in Norway, Vikernes was the man behind the one-man music project Burzum, and later became a prominent voice for Neo-Nazi ideology. In Norway, he is known under the nick-name "Greven" (Norwegian for "the Count").

Trial and incarceration

Vikernes is currently incarcerated for the 1993 murder of his former friend and bandmate Øystein Aarseth, also known as Euronymous of the black metal band Mayhem. The arsoning of three churches, Åsane church in Bergen, Skjold church in Vindafjord and Holmenkollen chapel in Oslo, and the consequent death of a firefighter, an attempted arsoning of Storetveit church in Bergen, and also a number of lesser felonies for which Vikernes was additionally found guilty landed him the maximum sentence in Norway of 21 years in prison (although it has since been shortened, as is normal in Norway, but then again lengthned due to his latest escape). He was also charged for arsoning Fantoft stave church outside Bergen, although the jurors voted not guilty. The judges claimed this an error of the jurors but refused to overtrow the whole case. Later appeals to higher courts was dismissed.

Related Topics:
1993 - Øystein Aarseth - Euronymous - Arson - Åsane church - Bergen - Skjold church - Vindafjord - Holmenkollen chapel - Oslo - Storetveit church - Fantoft stave church

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In the murder case the 22 years old Snorre Ruch was put to trial together with Varg Vikernes, and convicted to 8 years of imprisonment.

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The circumstances surrounding the reason for the murder are not entirely clear, but have been mainly attributed to ideological differences and a power struggle between Vikernes and Aarseth. Vikernes claimed that Aarseth had plotted to kill him and that the murder was committed in partial self-defence. Aarseth was found dead outside his apartment in Oslo with an alleged 23 stab wounds ? two to the head, five to the neck, and 16 to the back, though Vikernes claims that the majority of these wounds were received when Aarseth fell on peices of a broken lamp that he knocked over in the struggle. Vikernes also claimed that there was a financial dispute over the profits from Burzum's first two full-length records (Burzum and Det Som Engang Var) as well as the first Burzum EP (Aske) that were released through Aarseth's record label, Deathlike Silence Records but Vikernes urges that this was never a reason for the murder.

Related Topics:
Murder - Self-defence - Deathlike Silence Records

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At the time of Aarseth's murder, Vikernes was playing bass guitar for Mayhem. Aarseth's mother reportedly asked Hellhammer (Real name Jan Axel Blomberg), Mayhem's then-drummer, to remove the bass tracks that Vikernes had recorded for Mayhem's first full length studio album De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas. Hellhammer has since claimed that he spread the word to anyone he could that he was going to replace the bass tracks, however the tracks were never re-recorded.

Related Topics:
Bass guitar - Hellhammer - Jan Axel Blomberg

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At the time of his arrest police found 100 kg of explosives in his home, what he planned to do with the explosives is unknown. To the public very little is known about this and even if the police confronted him about it or not.

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As of 1999 Varg Vikernes has a debt to Oslo municipality and Gjensidige insurance company (now DnbNOR) of NOK13.5 million, after a trial in 1998, and at that point additional debts for other arsonings of about NOK23 million http://www.bt.no/innenriks/article5249, although some sources use other figures.

Related Topics:
1999 - Oslo - Gjensidige - DnbNOR

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