The president of the Court of Appeal for Western Sweden, Anders Hagsgård, is critical of the fact that the Social Democrats had a meeting with the two jurors who ruled in the criticized snippadom and who then left their assignments. – Political influence over jurors puts the courts’ independence at risk, says Hagsgård. Notes with resignation Two handwritten notes testify that the jurors immediately renounced their assignments in the Court of Appeal for Western Sweden. But it was not the members of the committee who brought the notes themselves, but an ombudsman for the social democrats in Gothenburg. The two jurors had been on so-called support calls with the party after ruling in the heavily criticized snippadom. – Two people who are appointed by the Social Democrats and who are under very, very hard pressure – that you have supportive talks with them is of course perfectly reasonable, comments Magdalena Andersson, S party leader. “Should not have contact” Not reasonable at all according to the president of the Court of Appeal Anders Hagsgård – head of the court in which the jurors worked. He believes that it could threaten democracy. – I don’t know exactly what was said, but generally the political parties should not have any contact with the jurors in their capacity as jurors, says Court of Appeal President Anders Hagsgård. The risk is that we will gain political influence in the judging activities and it is not the idea that we should have that in Sweden. Persuaded to leave? In such cases, it would threaten the independence of the courts and, by extension, legal certainty. And there has been speculation that the two jurors were persuaded by the party to leave their posts after the unpopular verdict. – According to the information I have received, no pressure has been exerted on them in any way. It is important that we have an independent judiciary, says S-party leader Magdalena Andersson. See the feature in the player above
t4-general
After the snippadom: Court of Appeal president critical of S meeting with jurors
