SHARE
COPY LINK

CRIME

Swede wrongly convicted of murder to get record compensation after 13 years of jail

A Swede who was jailed for 13 years for a murder of which he was later acquitted will now receive a record amount of compensation, according to reports in Swedish media.

Swede wrongly convicted of murder to get record compensation after 13 years of jail
Kaj Linna speaking to press after his acquittal. Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT

Kaj Linna was sentenced to life in jail over a brutal combined robbery and murder in Kalamark in the far north of Sweden in 2004, despite a lack of forensic evidence or an eye witness linking him to the scene.

He always denied having committed the murder and at the end of last year, after new evidence was presented in a Swedish crime podcast based on global phenomenon 'Serial', he was granted a retrial.

In June this year, the court formally cleared Linna of all charges, ruling the evidence against him “insufficient”.

Now he is set to receive compensation for loss of work income as well as further compensation for wrongful detention, the amount of which is likely to set a record.

Linna will receive an initial payment of 5.5 million kronor, equivalent to approximately $655,000, Dagens Nyheter reported, but the total figure will be much higher.

“It's nice to not have to live on borrowed money and to be able to pay back what I have borrowed from people. But it is not an adequate substitute,” Linna told the Swedish daily. 

He and his lawyer, Thomas Magnusson, have previously estimated that the figure could reach 20-25 million kronor once a final agreement is made.

“In any event, it will be the largest [amount of compensation] ever,” Magnusson told the TT newswire, but declined to say how much his client was asking for. “Joy Rahman (who was convicted of murder and received 10.2 million kronor in damages in 2004) spent eight years in prison, Kaj Linna has spent thirteen. It is above all the long detention that is crucial here.”

The case

Linna's case dates back to April 2004, when two brothers were attacked on a farm some 20 kilometres from Piteå. One of the brothers was killed; the other was assaulted but survived. The latter, who was disabled because of a stroke, was found by social services two days later and said he had recognized the voice of a man who had previously done business with the brothers and whom they perceived as threatening.

The man, who had an alibi, instead mentioned Linna as a potential suspect and pointed police in the direction of another man who had more information. That man became the main witness at the trial and said Linna had told him of plans to rob the brothers.

Linna's fight for a retrial has been a long-running feature in Swedish media, with newspaper DN's reporter Stefan Lisinski one of those who had pointed out several errors and gaps in the main witness' story. The Supreme Court ordered the appeals court to retry the case last year after the same witness, speaking to Swedish crime podcast Spår, changed the details of the account he gave to the police. The witness had also offered new information in a documentary about the case by Swedish filmmaker Mårten Barkvall.

CRIME

Illegal Swedish strawberry sales raise billions of kronor for organised crime

Swedish police have carried out raids on strawberry vendors suspected of being linked to gang crime.

Illegal Swedish strawberry sales raise billions of kronor for organised crime

Police told Dagens Nyheter that the raids were connected to one of Sweden’s most wanted gang leaders, Ismail Abdo, nicknamed Jordgubben (“The Strawberry”).

In a statement police said they had “hit a central violent actor by targeting individuals around this person and their business structures”.

Raids were carried out in Bergslagen, as well as the Mitt and Stockholm police regions.

It’s suspected that these sellers had been marketing Belgian strawberries as Swedish and using the revenue to fund serious organised crime. Police also found children under the legal working age and migrants without legal residency permits working at the stalls.

Police believe that illegal strawberry sales turn over billions of kronor every year.

“We’ve carried out multiple actions together with other authorities,” Per Lundbäck, from the Bergslagen policing region, told Swedish news agency TT. “By cutting off the finances off this type of organised crime, we can weaken gangs’ financing and their ability to carry out crimes.”

To avoid buying strawberries linked to crime, Lundbäck recommends paying attention to the company you buy your strawberries from.

“The first thing you can do is look at the number the (mobile phone payment app) Swish payment goes to, to make sure it’s a company number starting with 123, and not a private number,” he said.

Most companies will have their Swish number displayed somewhere on the stand, so you should be able to check this even if you don’t have the app and are paying with card, for example.

He also added that you can pay attention to the age of the person selling the strawberries, describing very young sellers as a “red flag”.

SHOW COMMENTS