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CRIME

Court rejects Albanian extradition request

The Swedish Supreme Court (HD) has backed a decision by prosecutors not to extradite a woman suspected of carrying out several murders in Albania due to concerns that her human rights would not be respected.

Published: 22 December 2008 13:50 CET

The court ruled that the 45-year-old Albanian woman should not be extradited to Albania as “the investigation into her case indicates that she runs a serious risk of being subjected to treatment in contravention of article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).”

The court supported the findings of the head public prosecutor in Sweden, and on the advice of the Swedish Migration Board concluded that the Albanian authorities would not be able to provide sufficient protection to the woman.

The Supreme Court cited a 2007 report by the Swedish foreign ministry on the human rights situation in Albania to support its decision.

The woman had previously been sentenced by a judge in Albania to 25 years in prison for crimes carried out in 2002, including the killing of two men to avenge her brother’s death.

She was arrested in April on international arrest warrants and has been in custody in western Sweden while courts have tried to determine whether the 45-year-old woman, and her 70-year-old brother, should be sent back to Albania.

The Supreme Court noted that the woman flatly denies the allegations against her and that she considers “the trial against her in Albania to be a show trial”, and that the “political leadership in Albania is trying to silence her.”

The woman argues that if she were to be extradited to Albania she would be “tortured, humiliated and finally murdered.”

The Supreme Court found no basis to object to the extradition according to the European Convention on Extradition but instead based its decision explicitly on concerns over the woman’s right to the protection of her human rights enshrined in the ECHR.

Article three of the convention prohibits “torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment” and is commonly cited to prohibit the extradition of a person to a foreign state is they are likely to be subjected there to torture.

The Supreme Court has previously made a similar ruling in respect of her brother who has since been released from the detention centre in Alingsås.

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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