Response to interpellation 2023/24:337 on the explosions in Hässelby
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
M argues that the government prioritizes the protection of crime victims through a criminal policy overhaul where the focus is shifted from the perpetrator to the victim 1 2. M has tasked the Crime Victim Authority with mapping out support 1 2 and is working to ensure that crime victims do not have to claim compensation themselves 1 2 3. M has introduced double penalties for illegal handling of explosives and wants to introduce visitation zones 2 3. M argues that the protection of crime victims is deficient after eight years with Social Democratic governments 4. S argues that 2023 was a dark year with extensive gang crime 5. S argues that the government is paralyzed and puts tax cuts before resources for police, school, and social services 6.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)
Mr. Speaker! Kadir Kasirga has asked me what I have done for the victims of the explosions in Hässelby and what extra resources the government has provided to the municipalities that have been affected.
I want to begin by addressing the residents of Sundbyberg who tonight experienced a horrific explosion and the residents of Uppsala where a bombing attempt was recently thwarted. I want to emphasize that we can never accept this. You are not alone. The entire surrounding society stands behind you and empathizes with you in your situation. Now, the police are doing everything in their power to find and prosecute those responsible.
Mr. Speaker! This also underscores why support and protection for crime victims is such an extraordinarily prioritized issue for the government. It is reflected in the complete overhaul of criminal policy that we are now carrying out. It is about a shift in perspective, from a focus on the perpetrator to putting crime victims and society's need for protection at the center. Those who fall victim to the criminal networks' gross violence shall always be able to count on society's support and protection.
Shortly after the horrific explosion in Hässelby in Stockholm last winter, I visited those affected. I met those who live in the terraced housing area and listened to their stories and experiences. I followed up with a new meeting with the residents during the autumn. Then I could also talk about several measures that the government has taken to strengthen the position of crime victims, including in light of the experiences following the explosions in Hässelby.
The Government has tasked the Crime Victim Authority with mapping the society's collective support for crime victims, and in June last year we expanded the mandate to also include that the authority shall consider and propose which actor in society can step forward and coordinate support and interventions towards crime victims. The mandate shall be final reported by June 10 this year at the latest.
In order to strengthen the position of crime victims and improve their opportunities to receive compensation, the government has also appointed an inquiry which shall, among other things, take a position on whether crime victims should have the right to crime injury compensation as soon as a judgment on damages becomes final, that is to say that the crime victim, expressed simply, should avoid having to personally collect the compensation from the perpetrator, which is often the case today. The inquiry is to be presented in February next year.
The person who has been subjected to a crime also needs to have good opportunities to have their right to compensation examined in an effective manner. Today, this usually occurs within the framework of the criminal case, and in that case, the prosecutor or a victim's counsel usually helps the victim to pursue their claim for compensation. But a court can, under certain circumstances, separate the compensation issue from the criminal case and instead let it be examined in a special order according to the rules that apply to civil cases. Often, a separation means that the victim, i.e., the crime victim, will be in a worse position procedurally. There will be two trials instead of one. The prosecutor can no longer help with the claim for compensation, and a victim's counsel also does not retain their mandate to represent the victim in the separated case if the value of the dispute is below half a price base amount. Depending on the outcome of the case, the crime victim may also risk being liable to pay the opposing party's legal costs. I am well aware that a decision on separation can make things more difficult for the crime victim, and the government intends to return on how that issue can be taken further.
The meetings with the residents in Hässelby have touched me deeply. Their stories have influenced both the law enforcement policy debate and the government's policy. The initiatives that the government has taken over the past year will not change the situation for those affected in Hässelby. But their experiences have contributed to the government promptly taking measures aimed at strengthening the protection for other crime victims in the future.
Kadir Kasirga (S)
Madam Speaker! I also wish to begin by directing my thoughts to those affected in Sundbyberg who were subjected to a bomb attack during the night towards Friday.
Madam Speaker! I thank Minister Gunnar Strömmer for the answer but note that the Minister has chosen not to answer my second question, which concerns what resources the government has provided to municipalities that have been affected by the escalating gang violence.
The year 2023 was a dark year in Swedish history, a year when Sweden became more dangerous, a year when the bombs and bullets of gang crime made headlines and destroyed lives, a year when over 50 people were killed. Children lost their lives, and innocents became victims when they ended up in the line of fire. We should remember 2023 with a sense of sorrow but also as a reminder that action was needed. I am worried that 2024 will not get better.
Madam Speaker! In 2023, nearly 150 explosions were carried out in Sweden. My district, Hässelby-Vällingby in Stockholm, became one of the most exposed areas. We were subjected to five explosions, and one of these became the most serious in Sweden in modern times.
It was on March 16 at approximately 01:25 when 15 kilos of explosives exploded while most people on Lingonrisgränd were sleeping as usual. This is a terraced house area where mostly working families with children live and a few elderly couples who have lived there since the area was built in the 70s. We live almost 500 meters from there, and I still remember today how we were woken up by the sound and how our house shook. It is a sound one never forgets.
Madam Speaker! It is a miracle that no one died in the explosion, but about sixty houses suffered serious damage, and some of the terraced houses were completely blown out by the pressure wave from the bomb. A total of 236 people were affected while they were at home and sleeping in their beds - 236 people whose lives will never be the same again. Now, those who live on Lingonrisgränd, Carl Bondes väg, Nickelgränd, and Fyrspannsgatan in Hässelby are trying to heal their wounds, while simultaneously fighting against insurance companies, the justice system, and authorities.
Gunnar Strömmer talks about a shift in perspective. But Jocke, Pär and Anette, some of the crime victims on Lingonrisgränd, wonder in what way this shift in perspective is going to help them in practice. I would also like to have answers to that.
Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)
Madam Speaker! Once again, thanks to Kadir Kasirga for the opportunity to discuss these extremely important issues today!
Those living in this terraced house area in Hässelby who were affected by the horrific explosion are unfortunately not alone in their situation. Far too many people in different parts of our country have had to share the experience and bear the ultimate consequences of serious organized crime with a system-threatening force and a capacity for violence that the crime is clearly prepared to use with an ever-increasing indifference toward the consequences for innocent people. All of this has ultimately affected individual people of flesh and blood. In the worst cases, they have lost their lives.
This is a development that has been ongoing for far too long. The severe firearm violence has tripled over a period of ten years. One can say that the deficient protection for crime victims, which several of the people in Hässelby whom Kadir Kasirga mentions have now had to experience, is a result of us as a society not having taken these issues seriously enough.
A very central issue for the government, which was expressed on the first day when Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson stood here in the Riksdag's rostrum and in his government statement accounted for the government's priorities, is to put the crime victims at the center, not just as rhetoric but also by in practice strengthening the protection that the Hässelby situation confirms has enormous gaps.
That is why, in light of their experiences, we are doing a long series of things, which naturally should have been done much earlier. It is about, for example, ensuring that there is a unified actor. The residents have experienced that it has been insurance companies, the municipality, emergency services, civil society, and the police. But who has offered the unified support? To whom should one pick up the phone to resolve the issues in a unified way? A special situation just in Hässelby was that it was not an apartment building that was affected. In an apartment building, there is often a housing cooperative or a landlord who takes care of all the issues. Now, all individual people had to take charge of their own situation themselves.
We have now given the assignment to the Crime Victim Authority to identify which actor shall provide the collective support. We have noted the problems that have been pointed out in Hässelby regarding the valuation of various interventions made from the insurance companies' side. It is a matter of valuation principles intended for completely different situations than when completely innocent crime victims have their homes blown up in the air. Therefore, I have also summoned the insurance companies, met with them, and spoken about the issues.
We have noted the problems that have existed regarding pursuing one's claim for damages which, in the concrete case, is separated from the criminal case. We are raising those questions in a separate track. All of this is extraordinarily important.
Let me broaden this and say that it is extremely important that we tackle the explosives. From January 1, double penalties will apply to those who handle weapons or explosives in an illegal manner. We have introduced preventive coercive measures that allow the police to wiretap criminal networks to prevent and stop the type of explosions that occurred in Hässelby. We have tasked eleven authorities with identifying and reducing vulnerabilities. A national permit register for explosives, which everyone has talked about for several decades, is finally being completed and is set to be in place this summer. Finally, I can say that in March, the proposal on visitation zones will come, which will give the police the opportunity to search for explosives and weapons in a different way. I hope that the Social Democrats will vote for this.
Kadir Kasirga (S)
Madam Speaker! I thank Gunnar Strömmer for the detailed answers.
I still note that the question of the allocation of resources to municipalities has not been properly answered. We know that the municipalities, and in these cases also the district committees and district administrations, have taken on a great responsibility. We have seen how much the district administration in Hässelby-Vällingby has worked to support the crime victims. It has been highly prioritized. The district administration has worked proactively, contacted the city planning office, and developed a plan to expedite the process for demolition and building permits. It was, in this case, a question of a row house area, which the Minister also mentioned.
I know that Gunnar Strömmer has met some of those affected, but has Gunnar Strömmer met the officials in the district administration or Lisa Carlsson, Social Democratic committee chair in Hässelby-Vällingby? Has a dialogue been had with them? What do they need? This is completely new. Hässelby has been subjected to five bombings, and they are to be handled by a district committee, a district administration, which has meager resources.
On April 26, 2023, I attended a meeting and met with the crime victims to listen to their experiences and what they had to say to us politicians. The district administration had invited me and the deputy finance councilor in the City of Stockholm, Anders Österberg.
The initiatives that have been taken by the government are good, but there is still a "but." How does Gunnar Strömmer intend to help those who were affected by the bombings and the fatal shootings during 2023 and also now during 2024? It is no longer a question of a dozen or a hundred people, but it is becoming thousands of people who in different ways have been subjected to these bombings. They become crime victims. Is there any help to be had, or does the government leave these crime victims to their fate?
Can something not be done retroactively so that they can be covered by assistance from the state? Right now, there is a great frustration among these honest people, taxpayers, because they do not receive support from society, especially from the state. These issues should not be handled by a municipality, a district committee. It is the government's mandate, and it is the state's responsibility.
Gunnar Strömmer has a great responsibility. I would like to see Gunnar Strömmer elaborate a bit more on how the government intends to help precisely these people.
Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)
Madam Speaker! I have really no ambition to turn this into a partisan mud-slinging, but if we are to sort out the issues of responsibility anyway, since Kadir Kasirga raises them in such a clear way, I naturally take full responsibility for all the matters that have been on my desk since the middle of October 2022 when this government took office.
I unfortunately have to state that the residents of Hässelby and many other crime victims now have to face the consequences of the deficient policy regarding putting crime victims at the center, which Kadir Kasirga's own party and the government were responsible for after eight years in power. An important part of the mandate that we from the Moderaternas side brought with us into this was precisely not to look at the perpetrator's interests but to put the crime victim at the center.
Naturally, I wish that everything we are doing now had already been in place during the winter of 2023 when the residents of Hässelby were affected by the terrible explosions. That it was not in place cannot, unfortunately, be blamed on me; instead, one must seek out those responsible over the past eight years and ask why they did not do enough to strengthen the protection for crime victims.
Now we see the shortcomings, and we are doing everything we can to rectify them. It ranges from clarifying responsibilities regarding support for crime victims to ensuring they are not pushed between district committees, rescue services, the police, or insurance companies. They must know that there is a unifying force that provides crime victims with the support they need in this situation.
We ensure that they can have their claim for damages examined in the criminal case, without having to pursue it on their own in a separate trial without the support that can be obtained in a criminal case. We ensure that they will not have to pursue their damages themselves in relation to the perpetrators, but they shall receive their damages when a court has established it. Then the state shall take on the task of collecting the damages from the perpetrator. We are doing all of this now. I wish that this had been in place for the residents of Hässelby, but it was not. Now we shall ensure that it exists in the future.
Let me also say that I meet an enormous number of municipal representatives, and I am happy to meet municipal representatives even in Hässelby to discuss those types of issues. Then, for me, it has been a natural starting point to begin with the crime victims, to look at their situation and needs, and ask myself what I can do in my role to improve the situation for crime victims in this country. That has also been my starting point in the current case.
That the police must be given better tools to prevent and preclude these types of incidents is something that has been extremely important for me and for this government. That is why it was so important to have the solution with preventive coercive measures in place this autumn, that is to say the possibility of using, for example, wiretapping against criminal networks to prevent and preclude that type of explosions. Preferably, they should not have to take place.
Pleasantly enough, the police made record-breaking seizures of explosives last year. We have embarked on a new path, and it is my conviction that in the future we can exert pressure on criminal networks in a completely different way to avoid explosions of the kind we have experienced tonight in Sundbyberg and in March in Hässelby in even more cases. But it is extremely important to have powerful tools once things have happened. One important thing is to give the police expanded opportunities to search for weapons and explosives. That is why it is so urgent for us to have visitation zones in place. That question will come to the chamber in March. Will Kadir Kasirga then vote yes to the visitation zones, which are so extremely important for cooling down conflicts, finding more weapons, and finding more explosives?
Kadir Kasirga (S)
Madam Speaker! Thank you for the answers, Gunnar Strömmer!
The Minister knows that we in the Social Democrats have our own proposals regarding how we should combat crime and how we should address this problem, which threatens society. Many of the reforms and legislative proposals that the government is now pushing forward are fundamentally reforms and legislative proposals that the Social Democrats previously initiated. The Minister knows that. But I do not want to get into the political polemics here. For me, it is important to be a voice for those affected in Hässelby-Vällingby. Soon it will be a year since they were subjected to this explosion.
I think it is good that you are taking the initiative, but it is unfortunately too little and unfortunately does not help those who were affected during 2023.
Crime fighting is not just about tougher measures. The government knows that. It is equally about preventive measures, and here, at least in my opinion, the government is paralyzed. This can be seen through the economic, through the fiscal policy, when the government does not give the municipalities and regions enough resources.
You are putting tax cuts before priorities that would have helped the police, the school, social services and healthcare and that would have minimized the number of crime victims in the future. It is deeply regrettable, and it testifies to the fact that words and being seen in newspaper articles come before sufficient action and help to those who are affected.
Stockholm needs more police. The Government talks about having given sufficient resources to the Police Authority, but unfortunately, Stockholm today does not have enough police to be able to take on this fight in a proper way. It is also a question where I hope that Gunnar Strömmer tries to provide answers.
Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)
Madam Speaker! Once again, thanks to Kadir Kasirga for the opportunity to discuss these extremely important issues today!
I want to start by saying that I have an extraordinarily great respect for the commitment that Kadir Kasirga has for the residents of Hässelby. I think it is immensely respectable when Members of Parliament stand up for citizens and stand up for citizens in their own constituency and ensure that their experiences also get a place in this chamber and influence how politics is shaped moving forward. In that respect, Kadir Kasirga undeniably deserves his high reputation.
I may not be quite as impressed when we then tip over into a more traditional partisan debate, because then I feel that we may have eased off a bit from the reality that the crime victims in Hässelby have had to experience.
The fact is that the protection for crime victims in Sweden is far too deficient. The fact is that eight years of Social Democratic governments did not result in any strengthening of the protection for crime victims, which really should have been in place when the bombing in Hässelby occurred.
Now that I have full responsibility for these issues, I am doing everything I can to rectify this and ensure that the deficiencies are eliminated through a series of different measures concerning the collective responsibility for crime victims so that one does not have to manage everything on their own. It is about the right to compensation, about the possibility of obtaining it within the framework of one's criminal case, and about avoiding the need to have to collect one's compensation from the perpetrator.
I also do everything I can to reduce the availability of explosives, a crime-preventive effort that can prevent and preclude this type of deed in the first instance.
In March, the proposal on visitation zones will come to the chamber. I hope that the Social Democrats will then be on board with a very powerful tool to be able to access weapons and explosives in a completely different way than today.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.