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HAPARANDA

Murder trial delayed after bomb threat

The court case against the man suspected of shooting dead 51-year-old axe-attack victim Esa Rano was interrupted on Thursday by a bomb threat.

Published: 23 August 2012 17:02 CEST

The Luleå District Court in northern Sweden was evacuated after the threat, which was called in via telephone shortly after 3pm.

The person who made the call told the receptionist that a bomb would go off at 4pm, according to the local Norbottens Kuriren newspaper.

Police immediately cordoned off the area, blocking off nearby roads and stopping local traffic, but were unable to find any traces of explosives in the area.

The court case against the 23-year-old suspected killer has been highly publicized in Swedish media, and will now be postponed until further notice.

Prosecutor Åke Hansson said that the 23-year-old is suspected of having shot Rano in the head near his house outside of Haparanda, in northern Sweden, in April this year.

Rano was found dead in his bed with a bullet in the back of his head, with police later making arrests when tipped off that the suspect was acting suspiciously while having jewellery valued.

According to Norrbottens Kuriren, Rano had been keeping jewellery and cash in the house amounting to several hundred thousands of kronor when he was killed.

Rano himself was already known to Swedish media after miraculously surviving a gruesome axe attack to the face and neck in 2008.

The attack was triggered by a village feud and left him permanently disfigured despite multiple surgeries.

The Local/og

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LULEÅ

Suspect re-arrested in axe victim murder trial

The 23-year-old man acquitted by a Luleå court last week of the murder of a 51-year-old Haparanda man in April, has been re-arrested by police.

Published: 20 September 2012 08:40 CEST

“Of course we are opposed to him being brought back into custody, but we will now concentrate on the remand hearing which will take place within four days,” said the man’s lawyer Lars Grönberg to local paper Norrbottenskuriren.

The arrest occurred after the appeals court had received the official appeal against the acquittal from the prosecutor.

The 51-year-old victim, Esa Rano, was found dead in his home in a small village outside of Haparanda, far northern Sweden.

The court wrote in their judgment last week that it was “highly likely” that it was the 23-year-old who shot Rano, but the court lacked forensic evidence linking the acquitted man to the murder weapon or to the plastic bottle that was used as a silencer.

Rano’s death resulted in great public attention as he had previously been involved in a violent feud that had raged in the village of Vojakkala for over twenty years and survived an 2008 attack where he sustained serious injuries after receiving axe blows to the neck and face.

His death in April this year, however, was caused by a shot to the head.

The trial, which was held at the Luleå District Court in northern Sweden, had also been disrupted by several incidents related to the investigation.

A bomb threat interrupted proceedings for one day in late August and a key witness became a suspect before being freed soon thereafter.

The 23-year-old suspect was re-arrested by police on Wednesday evening and is being held pending a formal remand hearing.

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