Åklagare: Domstolen har tappat uppfattningen om vad som är viktigt

After the rape of 17-year-old Meja Åberg in Skellefteå the court of appeal has now sentenced the perpetrator to three years in prison Men the man was not deported because the crime was considered temporary and not serious enough to result in deportation The decision has drawn strong reactions both in Sweden and internationally In this case it is about the court interpreting the term "serious crime" mentioned in the Swedish Aliens Act very broadly They have set up too high a standard for the crime simply and as you mentioned at the beginning here the court of appeal Note that the rape lasted only a short time and the perpetrator used his hands or fingers stead of forcing oneself into vaginal intercourse The court means that due to the circumstances the rape is not serious enough to lead to deportation The background for the decision lies international rules that influence Swedish legislation and limit the possibility of deporting individuals who have protection in Sweden It's a 16-year-old girl who is alone when she is attacked in this way But being held and exposed to this rape and the circumstances that this can happen to anyone and that it can affect even a child It means that this weighs much more heavily than the ruling that the court of appeal has hung its decision on Previous court cases show that the same type of assessments recur Something that has created a clear practice in Swedish courts But Swedish courts have always been quite cautious about deportations Too defensive In 2021 there was a ruling from the Migration Court A Syrian man who had raped a woman in southern Sweden He received two years and eight months in prison for the rape But then this court said that the crime was so serious that despite the man having refugee status he should be deported After that several rulings have followed where refugees have been deported for committing rapes of ordinary severity in Sweden So this case stands out I mean Critics have strongly opposed the ruling and the question has been raised as to whether the judicial system interprets the law in the manner intended by the legislature But here I mean that the court has completely lost sight of what is important People focus on various details such as the fact that the rape only lasts a short time The perpetrator uses his hands instead of forcing himself into a vaginal intercourse and this is entirely insignificant One can always find circumstances that lead to worse rapes This is a very serious rape and I don't think any legislator or judge or citizen in this country wants rapists to be walking around the streets like this At the same time a broader discussion is now emerging about trust in the justice system and how legislation should be changed to better protect victims of crime What will happen now as I foresee is that in the coming months regarding other rapes committed by people with refugee status Then the defense lawyers will have this point to highlight and try to get it so that future rapes also do not lead to deportation We will see if this ruling becomes a precedent and other courts follow suit or if the deportation of rape suspects can still continue