Police violence in Sweden: RSF asks the authorities to live up to their international responsibility for press freedom
On August 22, the police in Stockholm arrested a journalist, Markus Jordö, while working on a documentary for Swedish public service television, SVT. He is the fourth journalist in as many months to be forcibly prevented from working by the police in Stockholm.
“I am shocked by the simple fact that the police so bluntly interfered with the work of a journalist, refused his identification, arrested him and confiscated his equipment. Judging by two other similar incidents in recent months, the police lack knowledge of journalists’ rights and the protection of their sources,” says RSF Sweden’s chairman Erik Halkjaer.
“Arbitrary arrests of reporters are not worthy of a country that long-term ranks at the top of RSF’s World Press Freedom Index,” said Pavol Szalai, Head of the EU/Balkans Desk at RSF. “We call on the authorities to live up to Sweden’s international commitments and responsibilities. Sweden must lead by example, all the more so as it takes over the six-month rotating EU presidency next January.”
Markus Jordö was filming a climate protest blocking a highway south of Stockholm, when he was arrested along with some of the activists. The police neither explained to him the reasons for the arrest nor gave him a chance to explain their presence. He never got a chance to identify himself as a journalist. However, the police confiscated his camera, phone and memory card, which is a clear violation of the Swedish constitution that protects journalistic sources.
After nine hours in a cell, Markus Jordö was released and got his camera back, but the police kept the memory card for more than 24 hours. He was accused of sabotage, but he was acquitted of all wrongdoing later that week.
Journalists are mistreated as climate activists
On June 3 in Stockholm, a similar the incident occurred and is now the subject of a criminal investigation by the Attorney General. Jonas Gratzer works for Getty Images, and Noa Söderbergreporter at the newspaper Flamman and board member of the Journalists’ Association, was forcefully urged to stop his coverage of the protest on the occasion of the climate conference Stockholm +50 and then driven away by the police far outside the city. They were again treated like the climate activists whose actions they were reporting on. The police also confiscated their equipment and phones and kept them out of sight of the journalists until they were released.
When Jonas Gratzer and Noa Söderberg were asked to identify themselves, the police refused to use any means other than press cards, which none of them carried at the moment and which is not a condition for journalists to work in Sweden. Jonas Gratzer called his editor at Getty Images, but the police refused to speak to her.
Several other journalists were present, but left alone by the police.
The police’s version is disputed
At a meeting after the incident with Erik Halkjaer and the Swedish Journalists’ Association (SJF) chairman Ulrika Hyllert, the Swedish police’s media director Varg Gyllander expressed regret. While he did not promise that journalists would not be treated in a similar way again, he assured RSF and SJF that the police were aware of the laws on the protection of journalistic sources and laws on freedom of the press. However, police spokespersons insisted that while it is very difficult to identify journalists at such events, it gave journalists in both incidents a chance to identify themselves. A version disputed by the three arrested journalists. The police failed to comment on the seizure of the journalist’s equipment, phones and memory cards.
RSF and SJF filed a complaint to the Swedish Chancellor of Justice who agrees with the two organizations that the police may have violated the constitutional right to protect journalistic sources and may have mistreated the journalists. The event is now is investigated by the public prosecutor’s office.
The reporter was dragged away
These two serious intrusions by the Swedish police followed another incident on April 14 when seven police officers forced a journalist at SVT to stop filming in a suburb of Stockholm. Although he identified himself with his press card, the officers confiscated his camera and forced him to show them the pictures he had taken. They also held his arms and dragged him away, accusing him of a crime.
The police accused the journalist of having committed a crime which consisted of filming near the police station. A police building is considered an object of national security and may not be filmed, but according to a judgment of the Supreme Court as of 2015, it is legal for a journalist working for a news outlet to film subjects of national security as long as it is for information purposes and publication in the media.
Following the complaint by RSF and SJF in the second incident, SVT filed a police report in July to the Riksdag’s Justice Ombudsman for censorship and prevention of the collection of journalistic material during the incident in April. The police have until October 31 to explain the policemen’s actions. At the same time, the public prosecutor’s office opened an investigation against seven police officers.
Sweden is ranked 3rd of 180 countries in RSF’s 2022 World Press Freedom Index.