Europe's news in English

COPY LINK

CRIME

Memorial service for murdered toddlers

Around 450 people took part in a memorial service on Saturday for the two children murdered in Arboga, central Sweden. Besides friends and family, hundreds of people crowded into the Heliga Trefaldighets church.

Published: 11 May 2008 12:35 CEST

Memorial service for murdered toddlers

It was a final opportunity to leave flowers, light a candle and leave messages of condolences in a book. A large photo of the children was placed at the back of the church.

Tragically, Maximillian and Saga Jangestig never reached their respective 4th and 2nd birthdays. They were brutally murdered almost eight weeks ago in a case that has shaken Sweden and especially the area they are from in Arboga near Västerås.

The children’s mother was in intensive care for many weeks after the attacks. At the funeral it was apparent that her hair has only just started to grow out after being shaven off for various operations.

A German woman is currently the prime suspect and being held in custody in Sweden.

Nordic justice ministers meet tech giants on gangs using apps to hire 'child soldiers'

Denmark’s justice minister, Peter Hummelgaard, said in a press release that he hoped to use the meeting on Friday afternoon to discuss how to stop social media and messaging apps being used by gang criminals, who Danish police revealed earlier this year were using them to recruit so-called “child soldiers” to carry out gang killings.

“We have seen many examples of how the gangs are using social media and encrypted messaging services to plan serious crimes and recruit very young people to do their dirty work,” Hummelgaard said. “My Nordic colleagues and I agree that a common front is needed to get a grip on this problem.”

As well as recruitment, lists have been found spreading on social media detailing the payments on offer for various criminal services.

Hummelgaard said he would “insist that the tech giants live up to their responsibilities so that their platforms do not act as hotbeds for serious crimes” at the meeting, which will take place at a summit of Nordic justice ministers in Uppsala, Sweden.

In August, Hummelgaard held a meeting in Copenhagen with Sweden’s justice minister, Gunnar Strömmer, at which the two agreed to work harder to tackle cross-border organised crime, which has seen a series of Swedish youth arrested in Denmark after being recruited to carry out hits in the country.

According to a press release from the Swedish justice ministry, the morning will be spent discussing how to combat the criminal economy and particularly organised crime in ports, with a press release from Finland’s justice ministry adding that the discussion would also touch on the “undue influence on judicial authorities” from organised crime groups.

The day will end with a round table discussion with Ronald S Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, on how anti-Semitism and hate crimes against Jews can be prevented and fought in the Nordic region.

SHOW COMMENTS

Url copied to clipboard!