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Policeman cleared of manslaughter charges

A policeman who shot dead a 22 year old man in Lindesberg in March 2005 was acting in self-defence, according to a decision by Göta Court of Appeal on Friday. The higher court upheld the verdict reached by Örebro district court that the policeman should be cleared of charges of assault and manslaughter.

Published: 23 February 2007 11:55 CET

The prosecutor accepted the district court verdict, but the man’s parents were dissatisfied and appealed the decision. They now intend taking the case to the supreme court.

On the morning of 20th March 2005 the 35 year old policeman was sent to a property outside Lindesberg in central Sweden where the young man had been acting in a threatening way towards his parents.

He had already hit his father and the parents were so afraid of their son that they had fled their home and called the police from a nearby petrol station.

When police arrived at the house they were met on the steps by the 22 year old, who had armed himself with knives and was shouting abuse and threatening them.

The police remained a few metres away behind a fence, but when the man began to move towards them, the policeman fired a shot.

According to the prosecutor the shot was aimed at the man’s leg. But the bullet hit a gate, ricocheted and hit him in the stomach instead. The man died almost immediately.

Sweden Democrat politician charged for dismembering colleague

According to the prosecution, the body parts found in plastic bags in central Stockholm came from a man in his 60s murdered in an apartment in Nyköping, south of Stockholm.

The man is said to have been killed by a pistol shot to the head, after which the 60-year-old charged with the murder dismembered the body.

The suspected murderer, who newspaper Expressen reports is a former Sweden Democrat politician, is said to have moved the body parts multiple times, eventually dumping them across the city.

In total, three body parts were found in two different locations – the Karlsberg canal and in the Djurgården park. Not all parts of the body have yet been found.

“We’ve carried out a comprehensive investigation into the victim and the suspect. We can, to some extent, show how and when the suspect moved the body parts,” prosecutor Marina Chirakova told TT.

The victim, who according to Expressen was also a former Sweden Democrat politician, had been friends with the suspected murderer for a number of years. Prosecutors did not comment on the motive behind the murder.

“That will be discussed in the main hearings,” she told TT.

The suspect was taken into custody in November last year after being arrested in Nyköping. He denies the charges, but accepts certain circumstances related to the case.

Upon his arrest, he resigned from his political obligations and his membership was frozen by the Sweden Democrats.

“I don’t want to comment on his stance on the charges or anything he has said,” she further told TT.

The murder is suspected to have taken place between August 30th and September 16th last year.

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