Four years ago, the Supreme Court ruled in the so-called Girjasdomen that the Sami village of the same name has the exclusive right to small game hunting and fishing.
At the end of May, the four Sami villages – Ran, Sirges, Unna Tjerusj and Baste – decided to sue the state.
The right to mountain hunting
The lawyer on why the Sami villages are suing the state: “Patience has run out”
Four years after the Girjasdomen – now Sami villages are suing the state
“Out of patience”
The reason is that they believe that the same right should apply to all Sami villages in Lapland, that is to say that they have the exclusive right to allow small game hunting and fishing above the cultivation limit.
– Patience has run out, said lawyer Peter Danowsky.
Chancellor of Justice Mari Heidenborg, who represents the state, told SVT Sápmi that the lawsuits were not unexpected.
– It was not unexpected, in these years after the Girjasdom, we have had conversations with several of the Sami villages that have now sued the state, she said.
Disputed all
Now the state has contested all the lawsuits.
“It cannot be ruled out that there was competing land use in the area during the time that the Sámi village claims that the claim was worked up,” writes the state.
Should the district court have a different opinion, the Reindeer Farming Act from 1971 still prevents the Sami villages from getting justice, according to the state.
Adjournment for examination
In order for the state to be able to finally take a position on the issue, they want to review the historical land use. The state has given a research group at Luleå University of Technology, LTU, the task of looking into the issue. The state therefore requests a delay with its final opinion for four months.
In the past, Talma Sami village has also sued the state, and here too they have taken LTU to help. The state has requested a postponement, but the district court has not yet processed the application.
The Girjas Judgment
In 2009, Girja’s Sámi village, with the support of the Swedish Sámi Confederation, sued the state. It was about who should have concession rights for small game hunting and fishing in the Sami village’s areas.
The state claimed that it is they, in the form of landowners, who have the right to decide on hunting and fishing, while the Sami village only has the right to hunt and fish.
Girjas, for his part, claimed that the Sami village has a better right than the state to hunting and fishing, and that they should therefore alone have the right to lease it. It is a right that they believe accrues through the claim of ancient times, a legal right based on the fact that the land has been farmed for a long time.
After an eleven-year process, Girja’s Sámi village finally won against the state in the Supreme Court.