District Court: GW interfered with the trial

Leif GW Persson receives criticism for his behavior during the Tove trial. His behavior prompted the judge to give him a reprimand.
A security guard noticed that GW was sitting “muttering to himself”.

Leif GW Persson was present during the trial about the murder of 21-year-old Tove in Vetlanda. The criminologist has on several occasions expressed criticism of the way the indictment is designed. GW has also questioned the judge’s objectivity.

But it is not only in the media that Persson has aired his views on the case. During the high-profile trial against the women who were accused of murdering Tove, GW is said to have behaved in a way that disturbed the district court.

11:54

GW: “The Tove verdict contradicts itself”

“Feeling comments”

According to the trial protocol, it is stated that “a media representative (known by the district court as Leif GW Persson) sits and makes comments during the main hearing”. It was a relative of one of the suspected women who had noted the behavior, which had also been noticed by a security guard.

A witness on the stand also claims that GW made comments during the questioning of one of the suspects. When councilor Erik Handmark heard about this, he asked a security guard to reprimand Persson, whereupon GW was ordered to remain silent during the remainder of the trial.

According to the protocol, Persson then answers briefly with: “but no one has heard.”

Erik Handmark tells DN that he has never experienced anything like this.

– I normally never make contact with an external person during a trial, unless I have to. Here, we had also started by handing out an information booklet about which rules of procedure applied so that everyone would know it from the start, says Handmark.

Considering JO notification

Leif GW speaks up The evening paper that he does not share the Eksjö district court’s assessment and that he is considering the JO notification.

– They can write what they want. I have handed it over to my lawyer to see if it is possible to make a JO notification. It messes up everything like this, it’s not about me but about the fact that I don’t share the district court’s assessment in the case, he says.

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