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CRIME

Swedish prosecutors to make announcement over death of homeless Romanian

An announcement is expected from police prosecutors on Monday in a case involving the suspected murder of a Romanian man earlier this year.

Published: 18 November 2018 14:26 CET
Swedish prosecutors to make announcement over death of homeless Romanian
The park where the man's body was found. File photo: Adam Ihse/TT

Two teenagers are under suspicion in the case, which has received considerable public attention in Sweden.

The 48-year-old man, locally known as 'Gica' although his real name was Gheorge Hortolomei-Lupu, was found dead in a park in Huskvarna, near Jönköping, on August 8th.

After the investigation into his death was reclassified as a murder case two weeks later, police turned their attention to a youth gang which had been harassing the man for some time.

Two boys aged 16 and 14 years have since been identified as suspects in the case, with the former having been held in custody for several weeks. Both are encompassed by provisions relating to care of minors.

At Monday’s press meeting, prosecutor Linda Schön is expected to confirm a decision regarding a potential murder trial.

Anders Tolke, lawyer for the 16-year-old, said he would not speculate on announcements to be made Monday.

“I have no comments at this time as we are waiting for the prosecutor’s decision on the question of the charge,” Tolke said.

Special provisions apply in Swedish law for suspects under the age of 18, with trials against people between the ages of 15 and 17 years required to proceed promptly.

While 16-year-olds can be tried in court, further special legislation applies to suspects under the age of 15. According to a prosecution service press statement, “either the investigation is completed and the protocol sent to social services, or the investigation is completed and the testimony [Swedish: bevistalan, ed.] filed”.

Such a testimony would set out the sequence of events in the crime without any punishment being given to the underage suspect.

“You can have trial and testimony at the same time. At the least, the person of minor age can be considered an accessory to the crime. In that case, being under the age of 15 does not come into play,” Lars-Erik Bergström, lawyer at the district court in Falu, told TT.

Joint trial and testimony enables the court to reach a verdict in the case, while issuing legal sanctions only to suspects age 16 or over. Suspects under that age who are found guilty would remain under the authority of social services.

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CRIME

Sweden charges Islamic State woman in landmark trial

Swedish prosecutors said they have brought genocide charges against a woman in the country's first court case over crimes committed by the Islamic State group against the Yazidi minority.

Published: 20 September 2024 07:15 CEST
Sweden charges Islamic State woman in landmark trial

A prosecutor told AFP the 52-year-old woman was accused of keeping Yazidi women and children as slaves at her home in Syria between 2014 and 2016.

She was charged with “genocide, crimes against humanity and serious war crimes” on the grounds that her actions formed part of a broader campaign by the group (IS or Isis) against the Kurdish-speaking Yazidi minority.

The woman, who is a Swedish citizen, is in jail having already been sentenced by a Swedish court to six years in prison in 2022 for allowing her 12-year-old son to be recruited as a child soldier for Isis.

Senior prosecutor Reena Devgun told AFP that while investigating that case, authorities had received witness reports “that told us that she had kept slaves in Raqqa,” the former stronghold of the Islamic State group in northern Syria, prompting further investigations.

“If you take in Yazidis into your household when you are an Isis member or the wife of an Isis member and treat them this way, I argue that you are participating” in the broader campaign against them, Devgun said.

Devgun said the woman had kept nine people, three women and six children, in her home “as slaves”.

The women and children – who were kept in the house for between 20 days and seven months – were among other things made to perform household tasks.

Devgun said they had also been photographed, which the prosecutor argued “was done with the intention that they would be sold off”.

Evidence had mainly been gathered through witness accounts, from the victims and others that had visited the home at the time.

The crimes, which the woman denies, can carry a life sentence in Sweden.

Stockholm’s District Court said in a statement that the trial was scheduled to start on October 7th and was expected to last two months.

Around 300 Swedes or Swedish residents, a quarter of them women, joined IS in Syria and Iraq, mostly in 2013 and 2014, according to Sweden’s intelligence service Säpo.

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