(Based on an article by Erik Wijk in Aftonbladet, translated by Vivi 
Löfstedt and Mike, roughly updated by the author.)

The events in Gothenburg came as a shock for most Swedes, who of us 
has actually been able to digest what happened? Since then something 
more shocking has been going on, namely the Gothenburg trials, the
biggest judicial scandal of our time, where people can be found 
guilty without any apparent logic, with unreliable police witnesses, 
with falsified or non-existent evidence, preferably in groups, hopefully
even with political connections. And they are given hard sentences.

What we are witnessing is how confrontation is replacing consensus 
as the basis for the social contract. It is as if the
courts no longer want to establish justice, they want to set examples.
And the police? Well, think about the basic clause of the 
police-law about "furthering justice and security" and compare that with 
the National Police Force´s evaluation of their efforts during the 
EU summit: "About 1100 people were deprived of their liberty during the
EU assignment. Many of these were arrested and jailed. According to 
information from the police authorities in Western district, by the 
12th of December, 38 sentences had fallen for crimes committed 
during the week of protests. The results of the
investigation by the police must be considered successfull." 

Are the courts suffering from the same obsession with results? 
It seems so. Let me mention some of the characteristics of 
the Gothenburg trials:

1. Incredibly harder sentences

According to my latest summary 45 people have been convicted of 
"violent rioting" after the events in Gothenburg. On the average 
their sentences were 12 months in prison. By comparison the 20 
people convicted for the same offence between 1994 and 2000 received 
roughly about 1 month sentence.

You would expect a motivation for such an increase. The verdicts refer 
only to the riots as "planned", "taking place in the centre of a 
big city", as "being so violent that the police were forced to use 
live ammunition to protect themselves"(sic!). One of the most 
common arguments used is that the "riots were an attack against 
the EU summit or democracy".

The Swedish Supreme Court decided to hear an appealed case on 
April 29th and reduced the sentence by 80%. But by then already 40 
others were convicted and sentenced with no possibilities of a new
trial.

2. A lack of judicial logic

The case heard by the Supreme Court examined only the sentence, not 
the conviction itself. The 19 year old threw a rock and two sticks 
against the police, without hurting anyone. But he was convicted of 
inciting and leading a violent riot, as well as destroying property.

The first court convicted him of incitement at Spot A, while the 
higher court found him guilty of incitement at Spot B - where the 
police witness claimed his actions had no effect on the crowd. It 
appears that a major trial error took place.

In the biggest case after Gothenburg, the Supreme Court lowered 
sentences for the 8 young people who participated in the "information 
center". The court found no grounds in the only concrete connection
between the "center" and "the rioters" - the four SMS messages and 
a 20 year old contact person in the city.

Yet they were given two years in prison for "abetting a violent riot" .
Their guilt "must be assumed" and "appears obvious", the court 
ruling vaguely states. Especially since the 20 year old was 
convicted of "leading a violent rioting" in another case. Do I 
have to add that the conviction of the 20 year old referrred 
strongly to his connection to the "information center". Talk about 
circular reasoning!

3. Infallible police witnesses

The case of the 20 year old was very dependent on an undercover police 
who testified that at a pre-meeting the 20 year old "encouraged people 
to fight", "was aggressive in his tone" and "declared that there would
be trouble if some 'bloody cops' stopped them". This meeting was 
actually filmed, including the undercover policeman. The 20 year 
old never used the term "bloody cops", never talked about 
fighting, but only described the well-known plans of the "white 
overall demonstrators" to symbolicly and non-violently break 
into the summit conference site. The undercover policeman is 
about to be accused of perjury. There are many more examples of 
unreliable and contradictory testimonies from police witnesses.

4. Suggestion instead of proof

In many of the trials a series of film clippings from many of the 
disturbances were shown, even if the accused was presnt at the 
event at all. The film about the information center and the 
SMS messages included a shot with a masked demonstrator aiming 
his weapon against a policeman. The picture was from Germany!

5. Manipulated and misplaced evidence.

The most famous example is where the police added a sound track 
(with chanting accusing the police of acting like Nazis) to the 
film footage of Hannes Westerberg, the demonstrator who was shot 
by the police. A number of policemen have "lost" or misplaced photos 
taken during the events in Gothenburg.

6. Group trials

Seven Danes were convicted as a group, 5 Danes in another trial, 8 
Swedes in the "information centre" case. In 5 further cases more 
than one defendant has been charged. What is most serious is the 
lack of individualisation in the description of the crime, the question 
of guilt or the sentence. The court held that the 8 Swedes "should 
be seen as equally participatory".

7. Political grounds 

If the Prosecuter has found any "extremist material" on the bookshelves 
or in the computers of the accused, this is reported to the court. 
I am just as guilty of having material, whether it be left or right, 
RAF or NSDAP material, that can be used as evidence in a political
trial.
Only in 1 case was the sentence lower and different from the others 
who were sentenced according to the new "praxis". The court found that 
"the defendant lacked any deeper political commitment"!

8. Total one-sidedness

Over 100 demonstrators or activists have been indicted or are awaiting 
charges. Official complaints have been lodged against lots of police, 
but only four police officers of low ranking have to-this-date been charged, 
for minor offences at the storming of the Schillerska school. 

Recently a record was set when a young man was sentenced to 5 years in 
prison for participating in several of the riots in Gothenburg. 
He didn't cause any serious harm, he was not masked and doesn't belong 
to the black block or other organisation. He went through a 
psychiatric examination and was found to have suffered from psychic
disorientation and having a tendency to "follow the crowd". The 
court paid no attention to this.