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CRIME

Shot Malmö man faced multiple death threats

UPDATED: Police say a man shot dead in a kebab restaurant at one of Malmö’s largest shopping centres over the weekend had experienced death threats and been offered police protection.

Published: 1 February 2015 18:54 CET
Updated: 2 February 2015 07:54 CET
The man shot dead by two hooded gunmen is thought to be Ashkan Moayed Abedi, a member of the Wolfpack Brotherhood criminal gang. He escaped the restaurant into the carpark where he was then gunned down in front of shocked shoppers. He died later in hospital. 
 
“They fired perhaps ten or twelve shots,"  a witness told Aftonbladet newspaper. "One hit the car of someone I know and went straight through."
 
”We saw flames coming out of the gun barrels,” another witness told the paper. " A small girl came running into the shop crying. She must have been caught in the cross fire.”

 
Abedi, 30, was a key player in the gang war which took place in Sweden's third largest city between 2007 and 2011, leaving at least two men dead. He had been convicted more than 25 times, notably for attempting to murder a prosecutor in 2007 by planting a bomb at her home. 
 
After his release in 2012, Abedi moved to Umeå in northern Sweden under a false identity. However, his name was revealed when he was charged with attempted murder following a knife fight in the city. He was not convicted for the crime, but shortly afterwards appears to have returned to Malmö. 
 
On Monday police confirmed to the TT news agency that he had experienced death threats over the past year and had been offered but not accepted police protection.
 
A police spokesperson Stephan Söderholm earlier told Expressen that the location and timing of the attack had been “poorly chosen”, given the number of witnesses present. 
 
“We don’t think it was a coincidence that the deed was done there and then. The perpetrators found an opportunity and took advantage of the situation. But I must say that the location was poorly chosen. There were a lot of people moving around and many eyes observed what happened.” 
 
According to TT, the murder was preceded by a brawl in the restaurant. After the shooting was over, the two men sped away in a black BMW. 
 
Tobias Barkman, a crime reporter for th Sydsvenskan newspaper and author of Mafia Wars, a book about Malmö's underworld, said that Abedi's murder could well be an extension of the rivalry of a few years ago. 
 
"One can not be sure that the murder had anything to do with the gang war. He may have had other enemies. But he has been living under a threat for well over five years because of the gang war. Then the threat became even more severe after his brother killed a person on the other side." 

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CRIME

How the fine you get in Sweden might be based on your income

There are two main types of fines that you could be given in Sweden: fixed fines which have a set value and fines which vary in value depending on your income. Here’s how they work.

Published: 23 April 2024 14:53 CEST
How the fine you get in Sweden might be based on your income

How do fines work in Sweden?

The two most common types of fine are penningböter (a fixed amount of money) and dagsböter (which vary depending on your income and the severity of the crime committed).

There is a third type of fine, normerade böter, which are rare. These are usually calculated based on some aspect of the crime committed – like the value of an item stolen or damaged, or the horsepower of a motor involved in the crime, for example.

Who can issue these fines?

Fines in Sweden can be issued by four different authorities: the courts, the police, customs and the coast guard. 

Things like parking fines, fines for using public transport and library fines do also exist, but, legally speaking, they’re technically fees – kontrollavgifter or straffavgifter, rather than fines – böter. This is important, as true fines will leave you with a mark on your criminal record, while fees do not (although if you don’t pay them you may be issued with a black mark on your credit record).

Police and customs issue a type of penningböter (fixed fines) which are known as ordningsböter. If you’re given one of these fines and you admit to the crime straight away, then you essentially skip going through the courts and your fine is issued directly by the police instead of being issued by a judge in court. 

Ordningsböter can be issued for things like not being able to present your drivers licence or other ID when you’re driving a car (500 kronor), not having insurance on your moped (500 kronor), or antisocial behaviour in public spaces through, for example, urinating (800 kronor) or playing loud music (1,000 kronor).

As a general rule, fixed fines are issued for less serious crimes. They can vary in size from a minimum of 200 kronor to a maximum of 4,000 kronor per crime, while the maximum amount which can be issued at one time for multiple crimes is 10,000 kronor. These fines vary in size depending on the severity of the crime rather than the income of the person who has committed it.

Income-based fines or dagsböter (literally: “daily fines”) are issued for more serious crimes, like grievous bodily harm, theft, animal abuse, damage to property or taking pictures of classified buildings, so you’re not going to be issued one just for driving slightly over the speed limit.

How are dagsböter calculated?

They’re made up of two numbers. The first is the amount of fines issued, which varies depending on the severity of the crime (between 30 and 150, or 200 if they are being sentenced to fines for multiple crimes at once), and the second is the value of each fine, which depends on the income of the person charged, but must be between 50 and 1,000 kronor.

This means that the lowest possible daily fine is 30 fines of 50 kronor each, or 1,500 kronor, while the highest is 200 fines of 1,000 kronor each, or 200,000 kronor.

As a general rule, one daily fine is meant to be equivalent to one thousandth of the yearly income of the person charged, taking into account other aspects of their personal finances like debts, savings and anyone else they have to support financially. This means that two people committing the same crime can be sentenced to different fines.

Let’s say two people get in a fight and are sentenced to 80 daily fines each. The first one has no income, so their fine value is set at the minimum (50 kronor per daily fine) meaning they pay a total of 4,000 kronor. The other has a high yearly income, so their daily fine is set to 500 kronor, putting their total fine at 40,000 kronor, despite being sentenced for exactly the same crime.

Despite the name, daily fines are not paid by day, but they’re paid as a lump sum within 30 days from the date at which the sentence becomes legally binding. If the perpetrator of a fine refuses to pay, their fine will be passed on to the Enforcement Agency (Kronofogden), who have the power to seize and sell their assets to cover it.

If they refuse to pay the fine despite being financially able to, they can be sentenced to prison for anywhere between two weeks to three months.

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