[ad_1]
The councilor was “well known” and was deemed fit to serve by the Board of Judges at the Värmland District Court. Shortly thereafter, the government also appointed him a councilor for the district court.
The man, along with a legal colleague, is now suspected of purchasing sexual services from two women in their 20s. Something that NWT was the first to tell.
The crimes are said to have been committed on Saturday May 16 this year, but the men were notified of the suspicion of the crime in a first interrogation on Thursday of last week.
Deputy Chief Prosecutor Bengt Åsbäck of the Malmö Special Prosecutor’s Chamber is in charge of the preliminary investigation and hopes to be able to make a decision on the issue of prosecuting the men in the coming weeks.
– We’ll check some things first, he says.
Met at the tavern
According to NWT, one of the women was a former plaintiff in a case in which the judge ruled. That case was about an attempt to purchase a sexual act from a child, for which the accused man was convicted. The plaintiffs had not turned 18 at the time of the crime.
According to NWT, the now-suspicious judge and legal colleague, who is also connected to the district court, must have met the two young women in the pub one night in May this year, after which the former plaintiff recognized the judge.
Both men are said to have denied any wrongdoing during questioning on Thursday last week. GT has contacted one of the men’s attorneys who just wants to confirm that his client denies.
According to information from GT, the actual purchase of sex must have taken place within the premises of the district court.
Neither the prosecutor Bengt Åsbeck nor the head of the court, Lars Holmgård, want to comment on the direction in which the crime was committed.
– I know the information is there and unfortunately I cannot comment on it, says Holmgård.
Could it have come into play for a report to the responsible commission that took place at the workplace, even outside of working hours?
– If it had, maybe it would have mattered.
Awaken emotions
Holmgård also says that the suspicions have stirred emotions in the workplace.
– This is a question, an event that really affects now, naturally affects the entire district court and all the staff here. Not just me, but everyone. There are many emotions in this.
He continues:
– So I want to take the opportunity to emphasize that it is a suspicion, you have to be very careful with that, and if even a court were not careful with that distinction between suspect and convicted then it would be bad of course. It’s a suspicion and we have to see where this leads.
The suspect judge is not suspended from his job, however, the man has no duties and is at home with his salary maintained. Lars Holmgård has the opportunity to report the man to the Staff Responsibility Committee, but wants to await the decision of the prosecutor in the investigation.
See more:
Expressen reporter Kim Malmgren: “There are men of all ages.”
