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CRIME

Germany extradites ‘laser man’ racist killer to Sweden

Germany said Friday it had extradited to Sweden John Ausonius, the convicted killer known as "the laser man" for using a precision-scope rifle to target immigrants and a Holocaust survivor.

Published: 25 January 2019 17:18 CET
Germany extradites 'laser man' racist killer to Sweden
Ausonius on trial in Frankfurt in February 2018. Photo: DPA

“He was extradited on Thursday,” Frankfurt state prosecutor Nadja Niesen
told AFP.

Ausonius, a 65-year-old Swedish citizen, has been found guilty of murder in
both countries, most recently receiving a life term in Germany in February
last year that was upheld on appeal in November.

Previously he was already serving a life sentence in Sweden for a six-month
shooting spree in 1991-92.

Using the laser-scoped rifle, he had killed a 34-year-old Iranian man and
wounded 10 other people from countries including Brazil, Greece, Syria and
Zimbabwe.

In a sign of Ausonius's notoriety, Norwegian white supremacist mass
murderer Anders Behring Breivik at his own trial mentioned the “laser man” as
a figure who shared the same goals.

The convict, who was extradited to Germany in late 2016, was in February
2018 found guilty of the murder of 68-year-old Jewish Holocaust survivor
Blanka Zmigrod in Frankfurt in 1992.

Ausonius, having now received life terms in two countries, is considered
almost certain to spend the rest of his life locked up without parole.

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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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