Liberal bastion no more? Rights groups fret over Swedish crackdown on gang crime

By Johan Ahlander

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Rocked by a wave of gang violence, Sweden is rushing to rewrite laws long seen as the hallmark of its open society, but critics fear it is going too far, too fast and threatening the rule of law.

Long one of Europe’s most liberal states, with one of the continent’s most generous social welfare systems developed over generations of political dominance by the centre-left Social Democrats, Sweden has faced an historic political realignment in the face of rising gang crime.

In less than two decades the country has gone from having one of the lowest rates of gun violence in Europe to its highest rate by far. Last year alone, 55 people were shot dead in 363 separate shootings in a country of just 10 million people, by far the most deadly shootings per capita in Europe.

In 2022, the Social Democrats were voted out of office and replaced by a right-wing government, which rule with support of the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, who campaigned on pledges to go to war against the gangs and further reduce immigration.

The new government has enacted or proposed measures including anonymity for some court witnesses, increased electronic surveillance, much tougher sentences and so-called safety zones, where police can search people without suspicion of a crime. It says it is merely facing reality that was too long ignored by previous administrations.

“There is no doubt we’re changing some balance points in our system, because that is what reality demands from us,” Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer told Reuters.

“But at the same time, we’re doing it in a well-considered way and in accordance with the rule of law,” he said, adding all bills put forward were compatible with the constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights.

Civil rights organisations, opposition parties and legal watchdogs are warning of overreach.

“Even if every individual proposal might be justifiable, the whole is very concerning,” said John Stauffer, acting Executive Director of Stockholm-based human rights organisation Civil Rights Defenders, describing the changes as “the biggest shift in criminal law that we’ve seen, perhaps in modern times”.

“There are incredibly large consequences for rights as well as for trust in society, trust in the government. When it’s weakened, democratic society is weakened,” he said. “The respect for rights is deteriorating, and the rule of law is also being jeopardized and weakened.”

CONTROVERSIAL PROPOSALS

In a bid to get more people to testify against gang members, the government in October proposed a bill allowing the use of anonymous witnesses from January next year, despite criticism that this undermines traditional legal practice for fair trials. Similar laws already exist in Denmark and Norway.

The Council on Legislation, a government agency that scrutinises draft bills and determines whether they are compatible with the constitution, said the benefits “appear very limited” and the change could lead to courts facing a weaker basis for rulings. The government defends the proposal.

“The gangs threaten and silence witnesses,” said Strommer, the justice minister, adding this hampered investigations and led to dropped court cases. “We have to change that.”

The government has also increased electronic surveillance, letting police listen in on people without suspicion of a specific crime.

Gudrun Nordborg, crime policy spokesperson of the opposition Left Party, said that while some reforms, such as tougher sentences for some crimes, were warranted, the government policy was troubling in its entirety.

“They are playing with democracy and show no respect for due process,” she said. “We have built principles over a long time that must be followed, such as human rights, the constitution, and that the state shouldn’t have too many rights relative to its own citizens. And here we’re now on shaky ground.”

Police have been given the authority to stop and search people in so-called safety zones without suspicion of a crime. Police say such a measure is needed to cool off areas after crimes such as shootings. Critics, including Amnesty International, argue it will lead to racial profiling.

“People are already marginalized in the deprived areas. We don’t need to put further stigma on them,” said Nadim Ghazale, who worked as a police officer for 17 years before becoming a community organizer in Boras, in western Sweden. “It can damage the trust in police and I fear it will do more harm than good.”

Strommer said much of the criticism was blown out of proportion and that Sweden only introduced measures that for the most part had been tested elsewhere, such as in Denmark.

“My firm belief is that in the light of the reality that I think the vast majority of people subscribe to, it is necessary that we forcefully advance our positions on several fronts at the same time,” he said.

(Reporting by Johan Ahlander; Editing by Niklas Pollard and Peter Graff)