A man threatened Annie Lööf on Instagram and wrote that she would be killed.
Now the man is sentenced to daily fines for illegal threats.
– They should not be allowed to get away, says the former C leader in the Säpo interrogation.
Annie Lööf received the death threat when she was still leader of the Center Party, just over a month before the parliamentary elections.
The party leader had published a video on Instagram. Soon after, she discovered a comment:
“You guys should fix some more generous gun laws so it’s easier to end your life after watching a clip like this.”
Anne Lööf: Pissed off and tired
– Sometimes threats come from fake accounts with zero posts and zero followers. I usually just remove these and move on. But, in this case I saw that it was a person with first and last name who had posted before. Then I think it crossed a line and wanted to report it to the police, says Annie Lööf in an interview with the Security Police.
– You get pissed off, 8-10 years ago I was scared and touched and it could affect me for several hours. Unfortunately, I’m now a bit sober, I was pissed off and tired. Now I’m reporting it to the police, they won’t be allowed to get away. It is part of the general concern and feeling I have for my safety.
The security police opened an investigation and questioned the sender, a 35-year-old man. He denies any wrongdoing.
The defense: A gross joke
– It was a rough joke. I think she took it as a real threat but it was never meant as a threat. I don’t think she took it as a joke, I don’t think she was happy about it. Joking with people is absolutely fine, but not threats, he says in questioning, adding that he “would sincerely like to apologize.”
The man also provided explanations for the comment.
“It wasn’t supposed to say ‘your life’, but he meant that the clip was so embarrassing that he wanted to end ‘his life.’ NN thinks that either it was autocorrect or that he just wrote the wrong word/letter,” wrote the security officers after the interrogation.
Today, the man was sentenced for unlawful threats. The punishment was daily fines totaling SEK 40,000.
The Court: Serious fear for his safety
“The comment is worded in such a way that it cannot be understood in any other way than as one
death threats directed at Annie Lööf. It is a threat that Annie Lööf has been apt to evoke
serious fear for one’s safety as a person,” the district court writes in the judgment.
The court also adds that they do not believe the 35-year-old’s explanation that it is a typo. Among other things, because the man stated that he was interested in what response he would get after posting on social media, but still did not discover the alleged error until Säpo later confronted him in questioning.
Annie Lööf has declined to comment on the verdict for TV4 Nyheterna. But in connection with her resignation as Center leader, she stated that the hatred and threats contributed to the decision.
Among other things, Theodor Engström, 33, has been convicted of preparation for terrorist crimes after planning an attack on Lööf.