STOCKHOLM – A 70-year-old woman has been arrested in the Swedish capital on suspicion of holding her son hostage at home for three decades, police and prosecutors say.
Stockholm lawyer Emma Olson told Reuters on Tuesday he had been in custody for nearly 30 years.
Various Swedish media quoted a relative as saying that the man was found lying on the floor on a blanket, without teeth, unable to speak, and covered with sores and injuries.
“He is in the hospital now … I know he needs surgery,” said Olson, who did not give further details about his condition.
The Express newspaper and others said the son was kicked out of school when he was about 12 years old. He was found next to two pannaks on the wall of a cluttered apartment apartment between 1995 and 1996, a relative was also quoted.
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False Lson said in a statement that the mother is denying allegations of false imprisonment and serious bodily harm.
Neither is named.
There was no immediate word on why the son was kept. Reuters was unable to contact family members to comment.
Police searched the apartment in the South Stockholm district of Henning, warning of a case by hospital staff to treat the man.
A police spokesman told Reuters: “We are looking at how long the son has been in custody, but we believe he has been in custody for a very long time.”
