Date: Fri, 23 Jun 1995 15:29:55 +0200 (MSZ) From: Bj|rn Skolander DAGENS NYHETER 23 JUNE 1995 SWEDISH SEX-TOURIST SENTENCED TO 3 MONTHS IMPRISONMENT According to Dagens Nyheter (DN) and other Swedish news media a 69 year old Swedish male, who two years ago was catched with a 13 year old boy at his hotel room in Pattaya, Thailand, has on 22 June 1995 been sentenced to 3 months imprisonment for sexual exploitation of minors by the district court of Stockholm. He will also have to pay 100.000 Thai Bath (about 30.000 Swedish Kroner) to the now 15 year old boy. Sweden has as a number of other countries recently changed it's laws, to make it possible to prosecute Swedish citizens who abuse minors sexually in other countries, and this case is the first time this new law has been implemented. "The sentence is a major break-through for the principle of double prosecution. It is also an active contribution to the international efforts against sexual exploitation," says Goerel Thurdin, chairwomen of Raedda Barnen (Save the Children). Journalist Lotta Schuellerqvist, Dagens Nyheter, is more reserved in her here judgement. "The pedophile case in Stockholm has given rise to several questions, which have not yet been answered," she says. "Is it justifiable to transport a 15-year-old around half the globe to take part in a case, which is conducted in a language he does not understand, in a country he does not know anything about. And why were the interrogations kept for open doors, which should never had happened if the injured party had been a Swedish citizen?" Schuellerqvist is also critical to the circumstances under which the 69 year old was arrested in Thailand, especially the role played by two Swedish police persons in Thailand, as well as a Danish TV-team which was documenting the Swedish police officers stay in Thailand. Officer Lars Lundin and Monica Dahlstroem-Lannes were in Thailand to study the rutines of Thai police, to make it possible in future to use Thai police reports in Swedish courts. During this visit Mr Lundin came in contact with the 69 year old on the beach, who told Lundin about his interest in young Thai boys. This meeting led finally to the arrest of the man at his hotel a few days later. The night of the arrest the Thai police, accompanied by the Swedish police officers and the Danish TV-team, followed the Swedish sex- tourist and his Thai friend to the hotel. They then waited for half an hour outside the couples room before their invation "to secure evidence", a method which is not supported by Swedish law. When questioned about the circumstances surrounding the arrest of the 69 year old the Swedish police officers answer "we were only observers, and had no possibility to interfer with the work of our Thai colleagues." "And what was the role of the Danish TV-team? Were they looking for something for something more dramatic than documenting the Swedish police officers study of Thai police's written investigations?, Schuellerqvist asks further. Another critical voice comes from Berit Hedeby, a professional debater. "What has happened to the 69 year old, a so called pedophile, I call nothing but lynching," she writes in DN. "I consider the treatment of this man to be cruel. It is not the duty of Swedish justice to mock a sexual deviant. The man had not used violance, and no physical harm had been done to the boy." And Hedeby continues: "Why don't Swedish police and Save the Children (Raedda Barnen) go the Sergels torg (a central square in Stockholm) accompanied by a TV-team to uncover Swedish men who are exploiting young girls and boys there? Is it painful for Sweden to acknowledge that we have this problem within the borders of our own country?" Translated and edited by Bjorn Skolander