Theodor Engström is sentenced for the murder of Ing-Marie Wieselgren. He is also sentenced for preparation for a terrorist crime in the form of preparation for the murder of Annie Lööf. However, the murder of the psychiatry coordinator is not considered a terrorist crime by the Gotland district court.
– The act cannot be said to have seriously damaged Sweden in the sense required for it to be a terrorist crime, says district court chairman Per Sundberg.
Among other things, the perpetrator must have had the aim of instilling fear in the population so that it will be classified as a terrorist crime, explains Sundberg.
– It is quite a high threshold and the prosecutor has not reached it.
Different for Wieselgren and Lööf
Ing-Marie Wieselgren’s role is thus not given the same weight as Annie Lööf’s when it comes to how much damage a murder would cause Sweden.
– It is interesting that the district court makes different assessments of the murder of the psychiatric coordinator and the premeditated crime against Annie Lööf, says Dennis Martinsson, PhD in criminal law at Stockholm University.
Theodor Engström is sentenced to forensic psychiatric care with a special discharge examination and must pay damages to Ing-Marie Wieselgren’s relatives.
– I think it is very likely that the prosecutor will appeal to the Court of Appeal. The prosecutor has invested so much prestige in this being classified as a terrorist crime, says Dennis Martinsson.
Very few cases
When it comes to so-called prejudicial cases, there is not much to go on in terms of terrorist crimes in Sweden. The murder on Drottninggatan in 2017 is the only time a crime that took place in Sweden has been assessed as a terrorist crime.