Four years and three months in prison. This is the sentence for a man convicted of explosions in Gothenburg in August last year. Two other defendants are sentenced to just over two, respectively just over three, years in prison.
In mid-January 2023, a 21-year-old man was kidnapped from his home in Gothenburg. During three days, he was subjected to assault, threats, and a mock execution. In July the same year, eight people were convicted of, among other things, kidnapping.
In the Gothenburg District Court, two men and a woman were convicted on Friday for crimes related to the events last winter. They are convicted, among other things, of crimes against the law on flammable and explosive goods, accessory to general endangerment, and unlawful threats.
Three Explosions
Within the span of a week in the fall of 2023, three explosions occurred in Gothenburg, first in Kålltorp and then in Olskroken and Kortedala. According to the verdict, the explosions were an attempt to influence the upcoming appeals court proceedings against at least one of those convicted in the kidnapping case.
An anonymous call to the SOS alarm tipped off the police that the victim of the kidnapping was behind the explosions. The idea was that he would be arrested and that it would affect the upcoming trial.
According to the prosecutor, the plan was to first send threatening letters to those convicted of kidnapping, then set off explosions outside some of their residential addresses, and finally call in and report the kidnapping victim to the police. But the plan failed.
Convicted of Two
Instead, the police arrested the three friends of one of those convicted of kidnapping. And the court now convicts the three as responsible for two of the three explosions. For the third explosion, the evidence is not sufficient.
"One has obviously disregarded whether anyone would come to serious harm in connection with the actual explosions," explained prosecutor Helena Treiberg Claeson when the charges were brought.
The trio is also charged with a number of other crimes. They are convicted of some of them, but acquitted of others. The verdict also reveals that the three planned, if the plan failed, to instead try to free their friend from the institution where he was being held.
