swedish law Archives • SwedeInternational

Momika… stays?

How to make yourself unremovable

**Momika misses his flight**
*image src: Wikimedia Commons*

On Thursday this week, the Swedish Migration Agency came to the decision to remove (deport) Salman Momika. Momika, famous for publicly and provocatively burning the Qur’an on a number of occasions, was found to have given incorrect information in his asylum application as to why he needed the safety and security of living in Sweden.

Momika has been ordered to leave the country. However, given the difficulties in actually carrying out his removal, he has been granted a temporary stay until April, 2024 (which is when his temporary residence permit expires). Momika immediately appealed the removal verdict saying there were political motives for the decision, but the Swedish Appeals Court denied the appeal the next day.

It is uncertain as to whether Momika will ever be able to be removed. Unless the person agrees to leave, Swedish law does not allow removals to countries where the person runs the risk of being tortured or sentenced to death (Utlänningslag 2005: 716). Countries that may in turn send the person on to such a country are also out of the question. Momika’s lack of decency has successfully made him likely non-removable, courtesy of Swedish decency.

30 Dec. – part 2: the new rules for 2020

As promised, a review of the new laws and regulations for 2020, part 2:

Banks must maintain ATMs throughout the country. The major banks are now required to keep a minimum service level, including cash services, within certain distances from populated areas. For more, see this post that explained it already last June.
A reduced tax on gas and diesel. Everytime you fill ‘er up you pay a tax for the energy you use, and the CO2 you produce, while driving. This tax is going to be reduced, to make up for the increased cost for gas and diesel you’ll pay because distributors need to meet the requirements for the “duty of reduction” (reduktionsplikten). This is a requirement that requires that they mix in more biogas, which is more expensive, which they will pass on to drivers, so in turn, the government is reducing some of the tax you pay at the gas station.
The punishment for murder is increased. A life sentence may now be the penalty if a murder was carefully planned (föregåtts av noggrann planering), was particularly shrewd or clever (förslagen), was part of another crime, resulted in particular suffering (svårt lidande) or was in some other way particularly ruthless or unscrupulous (hänsynslös).
The minimum penalty for buying sexual favours from children is increased from fines to time in jail. The maximum sentence is 4 years.
Interfering with the work of first responders (blåljuspersonal, or blue-light personnel) is now punishable with time in jail. Sabotage mot blåljusverksamhet can give up to a life sentence. Also threatening or attacking a civil servant (tjänsteman) can land you in jail for anywhere from one to six years.

In other news, the previous name of the different administrative sections of Sweden was “landsting” but from now on and everywhere it is officially “region.” For example, landstingsfullmäktige (the body of representatives at the landsting level – those who have fullmakt (in this case, a mandate) – will now be regionfullmäktige. A region is bigger than a municipality, but smaller than the country. Stockholm is a region (used to be landsting) and Jönköping is a region, but also all of Värmland is a region.

source: Omni.se

12 Dec. – watch the hands

Erlandsson and his hands leaving court
pic: Jessica Gow /TT

Yesterday, the previous Minister for Rural Affairs (landsbygdsministern), and previous Center party politician, Eskil Erlandsson, was judged not guilty of sexual harassment by Stockholms District Court, DN reports. Erlandsson was accused of putting his hand on the thigh of three different women.

In one case, the court could not determine absolutely that the event had actually happened, and therefore dismissed the case.

In the second case, the court found that the defendant had indeed placed his hand on the woman’s pants-covered thigh not once, but twice, for a second or so. The court found, however, that this act did not have enough of a sexual nature to be criminal.

In the third case, the court found that the defendant had put his hand on the woman’s stockings-covered thigh, and had also fiddled with the hem of her skirt. Again, the court found that his touch did not have enough of a sexual nature as to be criminal. In a related judgement, the court did not find that any molestation (ofredande) had occurred either.

“Every touch that is perceived as unpleasant or unwished for isn’t prosecutable as molestation” the court wrote in a unanimous verdict.

But even Mårtin Schultz, SvD’s legal expert, wonders about this verdict just a little. “I wonder if there isn’t a gap between law and society’s standards here” Schultz writes. “Should it be allowed to briefly squeeze someone’s thigh for a moment? Should even momentary and less serious violations of physical integrity be protected by criminal law?”

Erlandsson first claimed he suffered from “the Viking sickness” (Vikingasjukan) in which the collagen in, say, the hand, thickens and shortens causing one or more fingers to crook – to crook and slip under the skirt lying on, say, the woman’s thigh you’ve just put your hand on, for instance.

To this, at least, the court gave no credence. But the verdict has made it clear that it’s ok to just give your female colleague a quick thigh squeeze because it’s not sexual enough for her to complain about.

It’s possible that jail time or day fines might be slightly over-prosecution (for more about day fines, see this blog) . But neither is it ok and something that should be put up with “because female” and boys will be boys. It’s too bad that the court could not render a more nuanced judgement. Just how many men’s thighs has Erlandsson put his hand on, one can wonder.

2 Dec. – truth not an issue

when truth isn’t the point
pic: sverigesradio.se

In October 2017, a member of the Green party posted on her Instagram account that a colleague in her party, who then sat in Parliament, had assaulted both women and children in various ways, and over a period of time. Today, in Södertorns district court, the woman was convicted of defamation, fined, ordered to pay her victim, Stefan Nilsson, 40,000 kronor, and given a suspended jail sentence (SvD.se/pedo).

The reason she did it, the woman said, was to prevent him from getting another trusted position (förtroendeuppdrag) in the party. In addition, she said that she had no intention of erasing her comment on Instagram (although the account has since been closed). The case against the man was never taken to court, and she had never asked the police to investigate.

Her crime is not just what she said, but where she said it – on a social media account. “By calling this man, Stefan Nilsson, a pedophile, the woman has labelled him both reprehensible and a criminal” wrote the court in its judgement: “Such an attribution is in no way defensible” (DN.se/pedo).

Another, similar case is in the courts right now. Cissi Wallin accused a well-known journalist, Fredrik Virtanen, of rape – also via her Instagram account. She is also being charged, by Virtanen, with defamation. In both cases, because the accusations were posted on social media, they were particularly and seriously damaging – hence being taken to court (DN.se/media). Both men lost their previous positions.

However, in neither of these cases is the truth important. At least, not to the court. In other places (like the USA and the UK) truth is an absolute defense to defamation claims. One can’t claim unfair treatment/insult/slander/libel if the statement that was made is true. In Sweden, though, that isn’t what’s at stake: It’s that you said it at all, in some public manner. As Ängla Eklund, a a lawyer with Mannheimer Swartling, explained to SVT “In Sweden, even true information can be defamation.”

Good to know.