Michael de Laine

1500 war criminals in Sweden because of weak laws - Amnesty

By Michael de Laine, Copenhagen, 4th February 2009

Although Sweden consistently takes a strong stance against impunity for the most serious crimes in international fora, up to 1,500 war criminals freely roam the streets of Sweden, says Amnesty International in a new report. There are serious gaps in the legal framework required for the effective prosecution of crimes under international law.

According to a new report from Amnesty International, about 1,500 international war criminals roam the streets of Sweden with little risk of prosecution because of serious gaps in the legal framework.

The report, ‘Sweden: End Impunity through Universal Jurisdiction’, notes that while Sweden consistently takes a strong stance against impunity for the most serious crimes in international fora and the police have shown a willingness to make sure that Sweden does not become a safe haven for war criminals by setting up a special War Crimes Unit, Swedish legislation in the area hinders the effective prosecution of crimes under international law.

Amnesty says the ‘serious gaps in the legal framework’ include “the failure to define certain crimes under international law as crimes under Swedish law, failure to define principles of criminal responsibility in accordance with the strictest requirements of international law, requirements that the government – rather than an independent prosecutor – approve prosecutions or extraditions in certain circumstances and a wide range of obstacles to prosecutions and extraditions.”

A Swedish national law commission recommended in 2002 adoption of a law implementing the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, but no proposal on these lines has been presented by the government to the parliament, the human rights organisation says.

“This inaction has led to a national debate in which members of parliament, legal scholars and non-governmental organizations have criticized Sweden’s failure to implement its obligations under international law,” says Amnesty. “A major overhaul of the legal framework is necessary for Sweden not to be a safe haven for persons responsible for crimes against humanity, torture, extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances and other crimes under international law.”

Among its recommendations, the report says Sweden should ratify all treaties – such as the Convention on the Non-Applicability of Statutory Limitations for War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity; the European Convention on the Non-Applicability of Statutory Limitation to Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes; and the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance – requiring states to extradite or prosecute crimes under international law.

Sweden should also define crimes under international law – including genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture, extrajudicial executions, and enforced disappearances – as crimes under Swedish law or amend definitions in its penal code.

In addition, Sweden must ensure that it can open an investigation, issue an arrest warrant and seek extradition of anyone suspected of a crime under international law, even if that suspect has never entered territory subject to Sweden’s jurisdiction. This can be done by codifying the War Crimes Unit’s position so that it can act in cases where foreign law enforcement authorities inform Swedish authorities that a suspect is planning to visit Sweden and expand this position to include information from other reliable sources, such as victims or their families.

Further, to ensure that other states can effectively share the responsibility of investigating and prosecuting persons suspected of crimes under international law, Sweden must make it clear that it can open an investigation of a crime under international law committed abroad even when the suspects are not present, either with a view to a possible prosecution in Sweden or to assist law enforcement officials in other states seeking to prosecute the suspect.

The Amnesty report has already spawned questions in Sweden’s parliament, Riksdagen. Lennart Sacrédeus, a member of parliament for the Christian Democrats, will ask minister of justice Beatrice Ask for a review of the situation.

Sacrédeus tabled a bill on war criminals in the 2006/2007 parliamentary session, to prevent Sweden becoming a safe haven for people who have committed crimes against humanity.

”That Amnesty now points out that Sweden risks becoming a safe haven for war criminals strengthens me in the convictions I expressed in the autumn of 2006 – that the Swedish government must now include international crimes in our legislation,” says Sacrédeus. “This is our duty to all war victims, to all refugees seeking asylum in Sweden, to all of our country’s population and in accordance with the Rome Statute from 2002 that we signed in the fight against war crimes.”

See: SWEDEN: End Impunity through Universal Jurisdiction here