Pre-trial detention: guilty until proven innocent

Quote:

It was in December 2010 that Jonas Falk was arrested in Colombia on suspicion of lying behind one of the biggest drug smuggling operations in European history along with thirty others. Several tons of cocaine were smuggled from South America to Europe and Falk was pointed out as one of the masterminds behind the scandal. In 1246 days, equivalent to 3.5 years he sat in custody while the gigantic police investigation was ongoing. In 2013 the district court sentenced Falk to 18 years in prison, the longest timed penalty that can be imposed in Sweden. But last year he was acquitted on all counts in the Court of Appeal which held that the evidence was not sufficient and that Falk could not be linked to the crime. Now he demands 15 million in damages from the state for the suffering he endured during years in detention, according to the lawyer the longest time someone sat in custody in Sweden without being convicted of any crime.

http://ift.tt/1GEPzH0

It should be noted that, although he was freed in Sweden, the day after he was acquitted the prosecutor decided to contact the Spanish prosecutor who then demanded that he be detained and transferred to Spain because they wanted to try him for money laundering and other crimes. The money he was supposed to have laundered were the proceeds from the drug smuggling allegations from which he had now been acquitted from.

So he was further detained in Spain for a couple of months, although he reported that despite the Spanish prison being old and fairly dilapidated it was far more enjoyable and humane the being isolated in Swedish pre-trial detention.

via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/1JgvxX7