was unfairly demonized. Aftenposten's foreign affairs editor Kjell Dragnes wrote that Treholt and Diesen promoted Russian propaganda. Career Treholt was a member of the Norwegian Labour Party and also worked as a journalist for Arbeiderbladet. He was political secretary for the minister of commerce Jens Evensen before he became deputy foreign minister in the bureau of maritime affairs (1976–1978). From 1979 to 1982 he was connected to the Norwegian UN delegation in New York as an embassy counsellor. During the years 1982–1983 he studied at the Norwegian Joint Staff College. He was also department head of division for the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs' press from 1983. Investigation leading to arrest Treholt was placed under surveillance by Norwegian counterintelligence services for several years of his career in the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) and the Norwegian ministry of foreign affairs. On 20 January 1984, he was arrested by Ørnulf Tofte, head of counterintelligence, at Oslo Airport on his way to Vienna to meet with KGB officers. The police conducted two searches of Treholt's apartment. In May 1982, they found 10,000 USD in a suitcase. In August 1983 they found 30,000 USD in the same suitcase. Treholt and his lawyer later alleged that Norwegian counterintelligence services produced this evidence themselves, and that the police and the judges conspired to cheat with the cash evidence, to make it appear as if the money came from the KGB. These allegations have been refuted as untrue. Furthermore, Treholt during the trial admitted to having received "expenses" from the KGB, but claimed that it could "only" have been 26,000 or 27,000 USD. Tapes from the trial, that were released in 2014, show that the notes in the suitcase were 50- and 100-dollar notes, and not as the verdict states: 20- and 50-dollar notes. Trial and conviction Following a much publicized trial presided over by Astri Rynning, Treholt was convicted of treason and sentenced to 20 years in prison, one year short of the maximum sentence allowed under the Norwegian penal code. The conviction included espionage for the Soviet Union and Iraq, and high treason. Treholt was convicted and sentenced for passing classified material to KGB in the period 1974–1983 and to the Iraqi Intelligence Service 1981–1983. The sentence also encompassed handing over secrets obtained at the Norwegian Joint Staff College where he was enrolled with authorization from the non-socialist coalition government. Despite the fact