– I got sick, traumatized and suspected to be a spy – NRK Nordland – Local News, TV and Radio

– To present my Norwegian passport in Congo, while two Norwegians were suspected of murder on behalf of the Norwegian state, it was intense and unpleasant.

That says Morten Strøksnes from Kirkenes.

In 2009, he had long wanted to travel to a torn African country to try to explain how a country did not work at any level. When the first news that Tjostolv Moland and Joshua French had been imprisoned and suspected of having killed, it was unleashed.

– Everything was very mysterious. I arrived the day before the first trial. Then I had the role of investigator and I understood what had really happened, he said.

In 2010, Strøksnes published the book "A Murder in Congo", which he wrote during the investigation. Basically, the script in the movie should be based primarily on this book.

But since then, a lot has happened. The biggest news was that Moland had committed suicide in the prison cell. So even though the film is still based on Strøksnes' book, they created a slightly different kind of storyline.

Got the mafia after him

Strøksnes writes in the book that the Congolese justice system is different.

– The Congo is a special country, even on an African scale. This also applies to the judicial system. In Norway, or in another western country, the murderer would be reported shortly. But they had destroyed all the evidence, everything was politicized and built on rhetoric with dirty words.

Time in Congo then characterized Strøksnes. He was suspected of being a spy and his fighter was arrested. Eventually, the army appeared at his hotel and he received the Lebanese Mafia.

Now that the film is in premiere, it partially resurrects the events of the investigation.

– There were unpleasant things. The only place I felt safe was in Cella at Moland and in French. I got sick and I was traumatized and I was able to sleep in my sleep. he says.

Raises the experience of the film

The initiative of the Bodø Film Festival, Gunnar Sohlberg Hagen, seems to indicate that Strøksnes is present at the premiere of the evening.

"The fact that Morten is here and talks about the issue before and after the film gives a boost to the movie's experience," Hagen said.

He saw the film himself and enjoyed it. But he thinks it's important to get in context before people see it.

"Morten has been close for several months and visited Cella where they sat, and can give us a glimpse of their real life," Hagen adds.