The wish list is defended by the Public Prosecutor’s Office

The prosecutor’s office defends the handling of the so-called Swish list, which singled out hundreds of Sundsvall residents as suspected drug buyers.

The list became public in connection with a 28-year-old man being charged this summer with extensive drug trafficking. In the investigation, the names and numbers of hundreds of Sundsvall residents who transferred money to the man via Swish were reported.

The people were not suspected of crimes at the time, but the prosecutor invoked the list as evidence against the man. The list was widely circulated in Sundsvall, and for many the consequences were still immediate. Employees at restaurants were dismissed on the spot and people were hanged online.

The Ombudsman (JO) Per Lennerbrant started an investigation into the case, after receiving complaints, among other things, from people whose names were on the list.

– There are many who wonder if they are allowed to do this. Then it may be a task for the JO to answer that question so that it is clarified and for the future that it is clarified for prosecutors, among other things, how to think, he has previously said.

JO requested an opinion from the Public Prosecutor’s Office, which now defends the prosecutor’s choice to include the names in the public investigation.

“I do not dispute that the dissemination of the information to the public may have meant but for the people on the list, but taking into account the importance of the information for the prosecution and the suspect’s opportunity to defend himself, there has been no legal scope for the prosecutor to mask it further in the preliminary investigation report,” writes Acting Attorney General Katarina Johansson Welin.

FACT Jail for the man behind the Swish list

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