Facts: Six men charged after Adriana’s murder
A total of six men are charged in the case, which relates to the murder of twelve-year-old Adriana and a series of other crimes linked to conflicts between criminal groups south of Stockholm.
A 30-year-old man, according to the police a key figure in the so-called Maygrouping, is charged with murder and attempted murder at the fast food restaurant on August 2, 2020 in Norsborg in Botkyrka, when Adriana was killed.
He is also charged with preparation for public destruction when at the end of July 2020 he is said to have planned to cause an explosion, preparation for the murder of a number of people from competing networks during the same period, and attempted murder on 21-22 July 2020 when a a large number of shots were fired with an AK-47 at a man in Norsborg. According to the prosecutor, it was the wrong man who was shot.
A 32-year-old and a 24-year-old are also charged with murder and attempted murder at the fast food restaurant. The 32-year-old is also, together with a 31-year-old man, charged with serious weapons crime as they helped to dispose of the weapons that were used.
The 24-year-old is also charged with aggravated assault in July 2020, preparation for public destruction and preparation for murder together with the 30-year-old, as well as aggravated weapons offences.
Another 24-year-old man is charged with protecting a criminal, a felony, when he kept an encrypted phone and tried to set fire to the car used in the fatal shooting.
Adriana was shot dead and seven other bystanders were at risk of being killed when “sweeping and indiscriminate” automatic fire was fired from a car outside the restaurant in Norsborg in Botkyrka municipality south of Stockholm on August 2, 2020, according to prosecutors Anna Sweden.
Two of the seven people, both men in their 20s, are believed to have been the actual targets but escaped unharmed. They have later been sentenced to prison for involvement in an attempted murder that is described as revenge for the shooting in Norsborg. The case has been appealed and is now being tried in the Court of Appeal.
Prosecutor Anna Svedin presents the indictment regarding the murder of twelve-year-old Adriana at a press conference in October 2022. Archive image. Gang conflict
According to prosecutors, the background is a conflict between what is known as the May group and their enemies in the Vårby network and the allied Norsborg group.
Not least, it is a 30-year-old man who is a leader in the May group who had a motive to kill people in those groups, says prosecutor Anna Svedin in her plea in the district court on Monday.
— This is a deeply personal conflict for NN (the 30-year-old), she says.
In addition to the shooting in Norsborg, the indictment includes several other crimes connected to the conflict, and a total of six men are charged. One of them is the 30-year-old, who, together with two others, is charged with the murder of twelve-year-old Adriana and the attempted murder of the other seven people who were at the scene.
Shot from car
According to the prosecutor, the men and another unknown perpetrator arrived at the crime scene in a car with false license plates and from inside the vehicle fired a large number of shots from an automatic carbine, a submachine gun and a revolver. Adriana was hit by two shots and died from her injuries.
Prosecutor Anna Svedin has described the fact that more people were not met, including two of the girl’s friends, as “a miracle”.
Trial transcript from October 2022 from the main hearing about the murder of twelve-year-old Adriana in Botkyrka 2020. The hearing is held in the security room at Attunda District Court, Sollentuna.
The three men are also suspected of several other crimes, among other things, two of them are accused of an attempted murder about a week before the murder in Norsborg. Anna Svedin claims in her plea in the district court on Monday that all three should now be sentenced to life imprisonment.
— Any penalty other than life imprisonment is excluded.
According to Anna Svedin, the men were well aware of the risk that outsiders could be injured in the shooting.
“You are willing to take that risk, because you are totally indifferent to the lives of innocent people,” she says.
— It is more important to restore one’s own honor and exact revenge. That is the most important thing for these perpetrators. One’s own injustices are more important than society’s good and bad and the innocent who are at risk of suffering, she continues.
A large part of the evidence in the case consists of material from encrypted communication services. In total, approximately 120 seized mobile phones have been examined during the investigation, where material from the cracked communication service Sky ECC has been singled out as decisive by the prosecutor.
Denies involvement
The men have consistently denied involvement in the murder, and during Monday’s plea, prosecutor Anna Svedin makes a point several times that during the investigation they did not want to answer any questions at all. According to Svedin, only when they have had access to all the evidence against them have they given far-fetched explanations about aggravating circumstances.
— It is an explanation that we have not heard a word about during the entire investigation. It is an obvious after-the-fact construction and it should be completely disregarded, she says, among other things, about a statement that one of the murder defendants gave in court about evidence that was incriminated against him.
A flower procession in memory of twelve-year-old Adriana in Botkyrka in August 2022.