2 days ago
Family member of Swedish minister an 'active neo-Nazi', reports claim
A minister in Sweden's government has a close relative who is active in right-wing extremist and neo-Nazi groups, according to Swedish media.
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According to anti-racist magazine Expo, which broke the story, a Swedish government minister has a family member who is active in a violent neo-Nazi network and has tried to recruit people to the nationalist and antisemitic organisation Det fria Sverige (The Free Sweden) via social media.
It's also claimed the family member has collaborated closely with an activist from Nordiska motståndsrörelsen (Nordic Resistance Movement).
The unnamed person has reportedly also taken part in activities alongside Aktivklubb Sverige, another neo-Nazi organisation.
According to Expo, Swedish security police (Säpo) were unaware of the connection between the minister and their family member.
"Regarding what information we do or don't have when it comes to the work we do protecting the central government leadership, that's something we can't go into in detail," Säpo press spokesperson Johan Wikström told the TT newswire.
Sweden's right-wing government is made up of ministers from three different parties: the Moderates, Liberals and Christian Democrats. There are no ministers from the far-right Sweden Democrats, who support the government.
Kim Hakkarainen, a Swedish security expert with a background within the country's Military Intelligence and Security Service (MUST), told Expo that the situation is "serious".
"That's a good word to sum it up," he said, adding that the minister's connection to the person in question could be a security risk.
"It's a weakness which could be used by an antagonist, for example another state or antagonistic actor who wants to harm Sweden, in order to influence or use the minister's family member as an enabler," he said.
Expo has contacted the minister, but has not received a response. The magazine managed to link the family member to six social media accounts on four different platforms. Five of the accounts were anonymous. These accounts included images of the person putting up racist stickers in a school and in their local neighbourhood.
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The person's private account was followed by family members ‒ including the minister ‒ as well as people linked to the far-right.
The family member's accounts were made private after the newspaper contacted the minister's press secretary.
