Norway to pay for wrongful conviction

OSLO, Norway, April 18 (UPI) -- The Norwegian government has offered compensation and an apology to a disabled man who died before he was cleared of killing two women.

The money, about $4 million, will be paid to two charities, Aftenposten reported. One, the Conrad Svendsen Fund, operates homes for blind and deaf adults.

Fritz Moen was convicted of the killings in spite of alibi evidence and the semen of another man found on one of the victims. He later said that he confessed to police under pressure.

The victims were both raped and strangled in the Trondheim area.

He spent more than 18 years in prison.

Moen was born illegitimate in 1941, probably the son of a German soldier. He had a paralyzed arm, was almost completely deaf and was diagnosed as mentally ill.

Before his death in 2005, Moen was cleared of one of the killings. The second conviction was under appeal.