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CRIME

Swede to appeal online rape conviction: lawyer

The 41-year-old Swedish man who was the first in the country to be sentenced to jail for online rape will appeal the court’s decision, his lawyer said.

Published: 3 December 2017 16:23 CET
Swede to appeal online rape conviction: lawyer
The Uppsala district court. Photo: Henrik Montgomery/TT
A Swedish court on Thursday sentenced the man to 10 years in jail for raping and sexually assaulting 27 children by forcing them to carry out sexual acts on themselves or others online.
 
The Uppsala district court found the 41-year-old man guilty of the online rape or sexual assault of the children, most under the age of 15, in Canada, the United States and Scotland.
 
It was the first time a Swedish court has found someone guilty of rape for forcing a person to commit sexual acts on another person.
 
 
The man’s lawyer, Kronje Samuelsson, told the Associated Press on Friday that an appeal will be filed. The lawyer said that his client “has been convicted in a way that we do not think is correct.”
 
The court ruled that the 41-year-old forced his victims to carry out sexual acts which they either filmed or live streamed for him. In some cases, he threatened the children or their families if they did not comply with his demands. 
 
“Such behaviour is the same as if the perpetrator committed the sexual acts on the victims himself,” the court ruled. “In some cases … the district court found that the violation which the sexual act entailed was so serious that the act is to be considered as rape or child rape.”
 
The man was found guilty of four counts of aggravated child rape, for cases where the children were forced to commit sex acts on dogs and where one child was forced to commit sex acts on a younger child.
 
“The younger child in this case has been raped and because the man is the one who pushed and instructed the older child to do it, he has been convicted as the perpetrator,” the court said.
 
In one case, the court found the man guilty of rape for forcing a girl to carry out sex acts on herself.
 
The man, who was ordered to pay damages to the victims, was also convicted of possessing child pornography as he had saved the films which he received. He had confessed to a number of the crimes but rejected the rape charges.
 
Legal experts say that the landmark decision in the case could toughen the definition of rape in Sweden. 

POLITICS

Over a thousand people join protest against Stockholm attack

Over a thousand people joined a demonstration in Gubbängen, southern Stockholm, on Saturday, protesting Wednesday's attack by far-right extremists on a lecture organised by the Left and Green parties.

Published: 27 April 2024 15:36 CEST
Over a thousand people join protest against Stockholm attack

The demonstration, which was organised by the Left Party and the Green Party together with Expo, an anti-extremist magazine, was held outside the Moment theatre, where masked assailants attacked a lecture organised by the two parties on Wednesday. 

In the attack, the assailants – described as Nazis by Expo – let off smoke grenades and assaulted several people, three of whom were hospitalised. 

“Let’s say it how it is: this was a terror attack and that is something we can never accept,” said Amanda Lind, who is expected to be voted in as the joint leader of the Green Party on Sunday. 

She said that those who had attended the lecture had hoped to swap ideas about how to combat racism. 

“Instead they had to experience smoke bombs, assault and were forced to think ‘have they got weapons’?. The goal of this attack was to use violence to generate fear and silence people,” she said.  

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

More than a thousand people gathered to protest the attack on a theatre in Gubbängen, Stockholm. Photo: Oscar Olsson/TT

Nooshi Dadgostar, leader of the Left Party, said that that society needed to stand up against this type of extreme-right violence. 

“We’re here today to show that which should be obvious: we will not give up, we will stand up for ourselves, and we shall never be silenced by racist violence,” said said.

Sofia Zwahlen, one of the protesters at the demonstration, told the DN newspaper that it felt positive that so many had turned up to show their opposition to the attacks. 

“It feels extremely good that there’s been this reaction, that we are coming together. I’m always a little worried about going to this sort of demonstration. But this feels safe.”

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