image: Alexander Mahmoud (DN)
Ebba Busch, the leader of the Christian Democratic party, admitted today to committing gross defamation (grovt förtal). Busch referred to a person representing a man against whom she is embroiled in a court case as a convicted felon. The person actually is a convicted felon. In Sweden, this is still considered gross defamation.
Busch admits to committing a punishable offence, but that in her “heart and soul” she does not believe she is guilty: There are, according to Busch, judicial ambiguities (juridiska oklarheter), but she explains that she is putting these issues aside in order to “lead a country with considerably bigger problems than my personal honor.” She is, Busch continues, admitting to a crime in order to put an end to it, and says that she doesn’t “have the time to go through with examining a legal precedence that today is not clear.”
By admitting guilt, Busch skips the public grilling that a court case would give rise to. But her declaration that her case highlights legal equivocality is simply wrong, says DNs legal reporter Martin Schultz. “It has been well documented over the last few years that even the truth can be defamation” Shultz says. “By bringing up earlier crimes, she has called a person a criminal – which is technically a defamation.”
In American law, a statement must be false to be defamatory. Such is not the case in Sweden.
In American law, a statement must be false to be defamatory. Such is not the case in Sweden. Busch wants the complaint done and gone, but at the same time doesn’t want to really say she was in the wrong. It remains to be seen just how well Busch’s admission (and the real estate court case that gave rise to it) goes over with Swedish voters.