Latest news with #Strömmer
LeMonde
a day ago
- Politics
- LeMonde
Sweden to lease a prison in Estonia to deal with overcrowding
As a consequence of rapidly expanding organized crime and tougher criminal sentencing, Sweden's prisons have reached capacity. In 2024, the kingdom's 46 prison facilities housed 7,530 inmates for just 5,022 available beds. Since then, the occupancy rate has risen further, reaching 141% and leading to a "very tense" situation in some facilities, according to conservative Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer. His solution: leasing a prison in Tartu, Estonia. On Wednesday, June 4, Strömmer announced that Stockholm had reached an agreement with Tallinn. While Sweden does plan to add 18,000 more beds by 2033, building new jails and penitentiaries takes time. Moreover, even these additional spaces might not be enough. As it stands, the Swedish prison administration already predicts that 35,000 people will be incarcerated and 4,500 held in provisional detention by 2033. These figures could climb even higher: On Thursday, June 5, National Police Commissioner Petra Lundh presented her proposals for reforming criminal policy. If all her recommendations are enacted, their combined effect will result in a surge in sentences, amounting to the equivalent of 16,000 additional years of criminal imprisonment per year.
Euronews
2 days ago
- Politics
- Euronews
Sweden reaches deal with Estonia to rent prison cells to house inmates
Sweden has reached an agreement with Estonia to house up to 600 inmates in rented prison cells in the Baltic country in a bid to alleviate its prison overcrowding crisis. The deal, which was confirmed on Wednesday by Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer, will allow Sweden to rent 400 cells in the prison in Tartu in the south-eastern part of Estonia. "Sweden and Estonia have reached an agreement that will significantly relieve the burden on the Swedish prison system," Strömmer said. The cost of a prisoner in Estonia is estimated to be €8,500 per month, excluding costs for transport to and from Sweden. In Sweden, the cost is around €11,500 per month. The entire prison will be made available to Sweden and Estonian law will apply on site, according to the agreement. Swedish prison staff will be on the ground to train Estonian guards. Differences in the legislation on prison sentences in the two countries have been analysed. "Estonia is bound by the same international commitments as Sweden and there is established cooperation between the countries in the area of criminal law," a statement from the Swedish Justice Ministry read. Certain exceptions have been agreed, so that the experience will be similar to that of a Swedish prison sentence, the ministry added. Whether an inmate can be sent to Estonia to serve their prison sentence will be assessed on a case-by-case basis. Broadly speaking, only men over the age of 18, who have been convicted of serious crimes such as murder or sexual offences will be considered for transfer. They must not be considered to pose a major security risk. Those with an extensive need for care or who are deemed to pose a higher security risk, for example those convicted of terrorist crimes, crimes against national security or who have links to serious organised crime, will not be eligible. Renting prison places abroad was a key component of the Tidö Agreement, the government agreement for the Swedish coalition between the Sweden Democrats, the Moderate Party, the Christian Democrats and the Liberals following the 2022 elections. The aim was to remedy the shortage of places in Swedish prisons, caused by a stream of inmates arising due to gang crime escalating in recent years. This trend has resulted in the Nordic nation topping the rankings of deadly gun violence per capita in Europe. Sweden and Estonia negotiated the deal this spring. An investigation concluded that there are no legal obstacles in either the Constitution or the European Convention against renting prison cells abroad. The agreement is expected to be signed in mid-June. Meanwhile, legislation that makes it possible to place convicted persons in Estonia is intended to come into force on 1 July 2026. However, legislative changes must be approved by Sweden's parliament, the Riksdag, where a qualified or three-quarters majority is required.
Euronews
04-02-2025
- Politics
- Euronews
Sweden: Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson calls Örebro shooting 'worst in Swedish history'
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson says that the shooting at an adult education centre which killed about 10 people was the "worst mass shooting in Swedish history." Speaking at a joint press conference with Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer, Kristersson condemned the "brutal, deadly violence against completely innocent people", adding that at the moment it is unclear what motives may have been behind it. "It is difficult to take in the extent of what has happened today. Darkness is being cast over Sweden tonight. It is with bottomless sadness that we have received the news from the police that about ten people have been killed and several have been injured in a school shooting in Örebro. What must not happen has now also happened in Sweden," Kristersson told reporters in Stockholm. Justice Minister Strömmer confirmed that an investigation into the incident is underway and that perpetrator also died at the scene. "The person that the police currently assess to be the primary perpetrator belongs to the deceased. This is a person who is not known to the police before. Of course, we want to understand why, what has happened and what a perpetrator may have had for motives. We will have to wait for those answers. In time, the picture will become clearer. This is something that the investigation that has now been initiated will show," Strömmer said. The shooting took place on the outskirts of the city of Örebro, which is located about 200 kilometres west of Stockholm. The gunman is reported to have opened fire at around 12:30pm local time, after many students had gone home following a national exam. Students sheltered in nearby buildings and other parts of the school were evacuated. Police vehicles and ambulances, lights flashing, were seen across the parking lots and streets around the school as a helicopter flew overhead. The school, called Campus Risbergska, serves students over age 20, according to its website. Primary and upper secondary school courses are offered, as well as Swedish classes for immigrants, vocational training and programs for people with intellectual disabilities. Earlier on Tuesday Roberto Eid Forest, head of the local police, said the damage at the crime scene was so extensive that investigators were unable to be more definitive on the conclusive number of those wounded. Police raided the suspect's home after the shooting, but it wasn't immediately clear what they found. Eid Forest said police believe the perpetrator acted alone, and there were no warning signs before the attack. Authorities said that there were no suspected connections to terrorism at this point, but police didn't provide a motive. Authorities are working to identify the deceased.
Local Sweden
04-02-2025
- Politics
- Local Sweden
Politics in Sweden: Why record gang-related blasts haven't rocked the government
Sweden's problem with gang violence, together with high energy prices, won Sweden's government the 2022 election. In January the country recorded its worst month ever for gang-related incidents involving the use of explosive devices such as grenades or car bombs. Police have said that the targets in at least three of the more than 30 explosives incidents to have taken place, in Enskededalen, Kärrtorp and Årstaberg, have been relatives of people in the Nero network, a drug trafficking gang linked to the gang leader Rawa Majid. The perpetrators are almost all youths under the age of 15 who have no connection to the target, with Tobias Bergkvist, deputy police chief in Stockholm claiming there is an "inexhaustible supply of perpetrators". Given it's two years since the current government got into power, you can understand why Sweden's media and opposition parties have tentatively started trying to point the finger at the government. The questions began on SVT's flagship Sunday politics programme, Agenda, when Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer came in for a grilling from the journalist Cecilia Gralde. "You don't have control over the situation, the PM says, and many people feel that the police can't protect them, what do you have to say to them?" Gralde asked. She followed up by asking why, when Sweden has brought in tougher punishments and stricter laws, the threat had not gone away. "Why haven't these measures had any real effect?" That same question came again when Strömmer stood up for an interview with the Dagens Nyheter newspaper. "Why haven't the government's policies led to a significant reduction in violent crime?" the journalist Hans Olsson asked. So far, though, Strömmer is not looking under too much pressure. Whatever you think about the laws the government has brought in to combat gang crime, there have at least been many of them. The measures have allowed Strömmer to boast of "new resources, new tools, and new ways of working" which, he claims he is "hopeful" will eventually have a positive effect. He and his Sweden Democrat allies can also still blame the former government. On the Agenda show, Strömmer pointed out that the number of fatal shootings had tripled between 2012 and 2022, when the Social Democrats were still in power. He's also helped by the fact that the opposition Social Democrats are being ultra-cautious, their one overriding strategy being to avoid disagreement with the government at all costs, which could make them look weak on crime. Their justice spokesperson Teresa Carvalho admitted during Saturday's debate that her party bore some of the blame for Sweden's gang crime problem. "It's absolutely clear that no government, either the former government or the Alliance government that came before it, did enough to turn this around," she said. "It's absolutely obvious that we didn't do enough, although we did a lot." The Social Democrats are also well aware that while voters might be sceptical of the government's chances of getting violent crime under control - in a survey at the end of September, 61 percent said it was doing a bad job - they rate the Social Democrats even worse. So instead of attacking the government on crime head-on, the party is instead seeking to position itself as a partner when it comes to stricter punishments and other repressive measures. Its attacks focus more on the government's failure on preventative measures, on reducing inequality, and on cutting segregation and exclusion. Carvalho has called on Strömmer to inform parliament about the current situation with the use of explosives and has also asked for the government to cooperate with the opposition on possible solutions. Last week she called for the whole of southern Stockholm to be turned into a stop-and-search zone. This provoked some something of a backlash, given that her predecessor as justice spokesperson, Ardalan Shekarabi, had argued, only last year, that stop-and-search zones were counterproductive. The government has also rushed out new initiatives, with Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson announcing at a press conference that he was accelerating plans to allow police to hack into the phones and social media accounts of minors. The government also proposed lowering Sweden's age of criminal responsibility from 15, where it has been since 1864, to 14. Carvalho declined to criticise the proposal. So the government seems to have survived this year's spate of gang-related bombings unscathed. Will it be more vulnerable if the number of gang shootings, which has been declining, also starts to rise? It might make it harder for the government parties to continue attacking the Social Democrats for their failure to get gang crime under control between 2014 and 2022, if they do no better in their four years in power. But it's hard to see, even if there's a spate of gang crime in the run-up to the 2026 election, that the Social Democrats will be in a position to argue they could do better. What else has been happening? Leader of Centre Party youth wing resigns Caroline von Seth, the chair of the Centre Party's youth wing, who in November called for the party's leader Muharrem Demirok to resign, has herself resigned after facing criticism for making her call without the backing of her organisation. "If you don't believe in the direction your party is taking, you shouldn't represent it either," she said in a post on Facebook. Von Seth is part of a faction seeking to unseat Demirok and potentially later make the Centre Party open up to backing Ulf Kristersson as prime minister, so raising the chance of the government remaining in power after the 2026 election. Senior Moderates call for part-privatisation of state companies Two senior Moderate politicians have called for an end to green industrial subsidies and the part-privatisation of Vattenfall and LKAB, Sweden's two leading state-owned industrial companies. Douglas Thor, chair of the Moderate Party's youth wing, and Daniel Källenfors, the Moderate mayor of the monied Stockholm suburb of Lidingö, made the proposals in a debate article in the Svenska Dagbladet newspaper, arguing that state involvement in industry had helped inflate a "green bubble" in Sweden. They said that while companies like LKAB and Vattenfall should remain "largely state-owned", they should bring in "private partners who can curb the irresponsible approach of politicians with other people's money". As for green industrial subsidies like the so-called Industriklivet, or "Industrial Leap", they said that they represented "the failed industrial policy of the in green clothes". Swedish government to move forward with plan to revoke citizenship for gang members The Swedish government will move ahead with plans to make it possible to revoke citizenship for gang members, Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer confirmed on Friday, despite a cross-party committee stopping short of making such a proposal. On January 15th, the cross-party Committee on Fundamental Rights and Freedoms proposed changing Sweden's constitution so that dual citizens who commit 'crimes which threaten Sweden's security' can lose their citizenship. It stopped short of making it possible to revoke citizenship from gang criminals, although the three government parties and the far-right Sweden Democrats added a reservation to the conclusions explaining that they had wanted to go further and extend the possibility of revocation to other serious crimes such as gang violence.
