Hells Angels take the stand after party attack

Tuesday saw the opening day of the hearing for the 19 members of the Swedish Hell’s Angels motorcycle club who stand accused of violently attacking a group of party-goers in southern Sweden in May.

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The gang members stand accused of viciously assaulting at least eight people at a private party held by a motorcycle club in Kalmar, southern Sweden, where they reportedly severely beat some of the party goers while others were forced to watch.

However, Tuesday’s hearing at the Gothenburg District Court was characterized by a set of hazy memories and empty statements.

“It’s a fear of reprisals,” explained one of the prosecutors, Thomas Hagman, to the TT news agency.

One of the people questioned, a 31-year-old man, explained that he was only at the fight because he was asked to turn up.

“I asked what we should do there. They said that we should just show up. Then people were hitting each other and we drove home,” he said.

Blood was found on the man’s clothes, which came from the Kalmar club-leader. When asked how it got on his clothes, he responded:

“That’s a good question.”

A 60-year-old Hells Angel, who was in the same car as the 31-year-old, refused to speak in the court, only giving a written statement which referred to the incident as a show of strength.

"[The aim was to show] that physical violence is best avoided by having so many people that your opponent realizes there is no point in fighting."

Blood from the club leader was also found on the 60-year-old’s clothes.

A witness testimony saw a man deny his previous claims that he had seen one of the Angels with an iron bar, telling the court that he had been “quite drunk” at the time and couldn’t remember what he had said in interrogations.

“I am sorry, it’s not something I can remember.”

Some 30 people were reportedly victims of the attack, of which at least 8 were assaulted.

All of the accused deny all allegations against them.

TT/The Local/og
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