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TV4 reported after ‘Swedish Mafia’ suicide

A man has reported Swedish television network TV4 after his 21-year-old foster son took his life following the airing of a programme on criminal gangs in which the young man took part.

Published: 9 February 2011 14:39 CET
Updated: 9 February 2011 16:23 CET
TV4 reported after 'Swedish Mafia' suicide

According to the foster father, the young man, identified as Victor by TV4, did not realise the implications of his participation in the six-part documentary series Swedish Mafia (Svensk Maffia), currently airing on Thursdays.

After changing his mind, he unsuccessfully tried to have all references to him cut from the programme. However, the channel chose to broadcast the episode on Thursday and showed the young man’s name and photo.

He was described as a gang member in the programme about criminal gangs. Three days later, he was found dead and is believed to have committed suicide following a pill overdose.

The man’s foster father has reported the programme to the Broadcasting Commission (Granskningsnämnden för radio och TV), newspapers Aftonbladet and Dagens Nyheter (DN) reported on Wednesday.

“It caused him a great deal of anxiety when it was broadcast,” the foster father told Aftonbladet on Wednesday.

He added that his son did not understand what the programme was about. When he realised that it was about crime, he no longer wanted to take part. He then wrote a letter to Swedish television production company Strix Television, in which he indicated that he would no longer participate in the programme.

Strix was founded and is chaired by Swedish journalist Robert Aschberg. He regrets what has occurred, but does not believe that the company has made any mistakes.

“We have acted entirely properly. That this has happened is a tragedy,” Aschberg told the Aftonbladet daily on Wednesday.

When asked by The Local on Wednesday whether TV4 will continue to air the show on Thursday, as well as the remaining episodes, press officer Magnus Törnblom responded that the network’s plans are currently unclear.

Fredrik Lundberg, editor-in-chief of TV4 and Lasse Wierup, editor of Swedish Mafia, said in a statement released on Wednesday that they met Victor, a native of Stockholm, in early 2010 through a self-help organisation for former criminals.

Several months earlier, he was convicted of robbery and attempted robbery. The verdict was of the opinion that he had psychiatric problems, but did not suffer from serious disturbances.

The week before the programme aired, a female relative of Victor’s called Strix Television after having read an article in DN, saying that he did not realise it would not be in his best interest to participate and that he was incapacitated.

Strix responded that they had no way of determining his clearance and that as an adult, he had consented to his appearance. The relative requested a copy of the requested material on DVD, which was granted, but only to Victor as a participant.

The same day, on January 31st, Victor went to Strix unannounced looking for a reporter who was unavailable. He left a handwritten note asking that his face be pixellated and that he not be named.

The programme aired as schedule on Thursday. On Monday, Strix received learned that Victor had died.

Police are currently investigating the circumstances surrounding the death, the editors wrote. A forensic investigation has begun and is expected to be completed in the spring.

“In the meantime, we can only conclude that there are no concrete signs that Victor decided to take his own life in connection with TV4’s publication,” the editors wrote.

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CRIME

EXPLAINED: What we know about the attack on a Swedish anti-fascist meeting

Several masked men, described by anti-racism magazine Expo as "a group of Nazis" carried out the attack at an event organised by the Left Party and Green Party. Here's what we know so far.

Published: 25 April 2024 09:35 CEST
EXPLAINED: What we know about the attack on a Swedish anti-fascist meeting

What happened?

Several masked men burst into a Stockholm theatre on Wednesday night and set off smoke bombs during an anti-fascism event, according to police and participants.

Around 50 people were taking part in the event at the Moment theatre in Gubbängen, a southern suburb of the Swedish capital, organised by the Left Party and the Green Party.

“Three people were taken by ambulance to hospital,” the police said on its website, shortly after the attack.

According to Swedish media, one person was physically assaulted and two had paint sprayed in their faces.

“The Nazis attacked visitors using physical violence, with pepper spray, and vandalised the venue before throwing in some kind of smoke grenade which filled the foyer with smoke,” Expo wrote on its website. 

The magazine’s head of education Klara Ljungberg was at the event in order to hold a lecture at the invitation of the two political parties.

What was the meeting about?

According to the Left Party’s press officer, the event was “a meeting about growing fascism”. 

Left Party leader Nooshi Dadgostar described the event to public broadcaster SVT as an “open event, for equality among individuals”.

As well as Ljungberg from Expo, panelists at the event included anti-fascist activist Mathias Wåg, who also writes for Swedish centre-left tabloid Aftonbladet.

“They were determined and went straight for me,” Wåg told Expo just after the attack. “I received a few blows but nothing that caused serious damage.”

“I was invited to be on a panel in order to discuss anti-fascism with representatives from the Left Party and the Green Party,” he told the magazine. “I didn’t know this was going to happen, but there’s obviously a risk when Expo and I are in the same place.”

What has the reaction been like?

All of Sweden’s parties across the political spectrum have denounced the attack, with Dadgostar describing it as a “threat to our democracy” when TT newswire interviewed her at the theatre a few hours after the attack occurred.

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, from the conservative Moderates, called the attack “abhorrent”.

The Moderates, Christian Democrats and Liberals are currently in government with the support of the far-right Sweden Democrats, while the Social Democrats, Left Party, Centre Party and Green Party are in opposition.

“It is appalling news that a meeting hosted by the Left Party has been stormed,” Kristersson told TT. “I have reached out to Nooshi Dadgostar and expressed my deepest support. This type of abhorrent action has no place in our free and open society.”

“Right-wing extremists want to scare us into silence,” Social Democrat leader Magdalena Andersson wrote on X. “They will never be allowed to succeed.”

“The attack by right-wing extremists at a political meeting is a direct attack on our democracy and freedom of speech,” Green Party co-leader Daniel Helldén wrote on X. “My thoughts are with those who were affected this evening.”

Sweden Democrat party leader Jimmie Åkesson wrote in an email to TT that “political violence is terrible, in all its forms, and does not belong in Sweden.”

“All democratic forces must stand in complete solidarity against all kinds of politically motivated violence,” he continued.

His party has previously admitted to being founded by people from “fascist movement” New Swedish Movement, skinheads, and people with “various types of neo-Nazi contact”.

“It is an attack not only on the Left Party, Green Party and the Expo Foundation, but also on our entire democratic society,” Centre Party leader Muharrem Demirok, who referred to the attackers as “Nazis”, wrote on social media. “Those affected have all my support.”

Christian Democrat leader Ebba Busch and Liberal leader Johan Pehrson both referred to the attackers as “anti-democratic forces”.

“It is never acceptable for a political meeting to be stormed by anti-democratic forces,” Busch wrote. “There is no place for this in our society.”

“Anti-democratic forces like this represent a serious threat to our democracy and must be met with society’s hardest iron fist,” Pehrson said.

What about the attackers? Has anyone been arrested?

Not yet. The police had not made any arrests at the time of writing on Thursday morning.

According to TT, police did not want to comment on who could be behind the attack.

It is currently being investigated as a violation of the Flammable and Explosive Goods Act, assault, causing danger to others and disturbing public order.

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