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PROSTITUTION

Ex-police chief sex trade case widens

Allegations directed at a former Swedish police chief suspected of rape continued to mount on Friday with a further woman accusing the retired officer of pimping.

Published: 22 April 2010 13:47 CEST
Ex-police chief sex trade case widens

Göran Lindberg, a respected law enforcement official who recently retired after a career spanning more than 20 years, is suspected of charges ranging from rape, plotting to rape or pimping in a case that has grown to include at least ten women and girls.

The latest woman to come forward is in her thirties and contacted police last week reporting Lindberg for pimping.

The case against the ex-chief has also now expanded to involve a further three people suspected of buying sex.

The three men were taken in for questioning by police last Wednesday and were informed that they are suspected of having bought sexual services.

Prosecutor Håkan Roswall has applied and received an extension on the deadline to bring charges, and now has until May 20th.

“I will probably not have time to present charges by then and it will probably happen in the days before midsummer,” Roswall told news agency TT.

Göran Lindberg has admitted that he has bought sexual services but denies all other allegations against him. He has been remanded in custody on charges including pimping, aggravated rape, rape and attempting to rape several children.

The investigation is currently focusing on the pimping offences which are alleged to have taken place between 2006 and 2009. The prosecutor has not ruled out that further men will emerge as suspects in the case.

The case against Lindberg has its origin in the investigation into a suspicious death in the suburb of Bredäng, in southern Stockholm, in July 2009 when a 60-year-old man mysteriously fell to his death from a balcony.

Lindberg’s name unexpectedly turned up after police launched a preliminary investigation into the suspected murder.

During the investigation police confiscated a computer and a mobile phone which belonged to the deceased 60-year-old.

When investigators examined the contents of the machines and found the names of several men, their suspicions were aroused and they handed the matter over to the Stockholm County police force.

After intense media speculation into Lindberg’s links to a purported sex ring, police leading the investigation issued a denial in January that there were further suspects under investigation.

”All the speculation about well-known men in high positions has nothing to do with our investigation,” said investigating police officer Jonas Trolle in a statement on January 31st, adding that it was important that the media exercises some restraint.

PROSTITUTION

Spain’s top court reinstates first sex workers’ union

Spanish sex workers have the right to form their own union, the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday, overturning an earlier court decision ordering the dissolution of Spain's first such labour organisation.

Published: 2 June 2021 16:34 CEST
Spain's top court reinstates first sex workers' union
Photo: Oscar del Pozo/AFP

Known as OTRAS (or “the Sex Workers’ Organisation”), the union was discretely set up in August 2018 but was closed three months later by order of the National Court following an appeal by the government of Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.

But following an appeal, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of OTRAS, saying that its statutes, which had triggered the initial legal challenge, were “in line with the law” and that sex workers “have the fundamental right to freedom of association and the right to form a union”.

In its November 2018 ruling, the National Court had argued that allowing the union to exist amounted to “recognising the act of procurement as lawful”.

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Contacted by AFP, the union did not wish to comment.

When it was founded, OTRAS received the green light from the labour ministry and its statutes were publicly registered in the official gazette the day before the government went into a summer recess.

But three weeks later, the government — which portrays itself as “feminist and in favour of the abolition of prostitution” according to Sanchez’s Twitter feed at the time — started legal moves against it.

In Spain, prostitution is neither legal nor illegal but it is tolerated.

Although it is not recognised as employment, there is a large number of licensed brothels throughout the country.

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