With the exception of minors among them, all the youth had been held in custody for more than one month awaiting trial. Two of them were sentenced to six months in prison, another to three months. Most of the rest were sentenced to mandatory "community service." None were cleared of the charges.

When asked why the court had meted out such stiff punishments compared to a similar case five years ago, a district attorney answered, "The times are different now."

The youths had occupied an abandoned hospital building in the center of Linköping to press their demand for a youth house. At 3:00 a.m., eight hours after the occupation began, cops made a surprise attack, which was fended off by the youths. The house was then surrounded by cops and no one was allowed to leave until a police detachment from Stockholm arrived.

When the youths surrendered, lights used for the cops video cameras were turned off. According to several activists on the scene, the police then began to systematically beat those lying on the ground. Dogs were turned loose on them and one young woman was badly bitten. At the hospital she was forced to undress in front of three male cops.

A campaign in the media began, backing the cops and portraying the youth as violent terrorists. Without a shred of evidence the firebombing of the garage of a leading local politician was ascribed to the youths, who were in jail when it took place.

The "violent rioting" charge is based on an old law directed against fighting workers. In an article in the conservative paper Svenska Dagbladet, Per E. Samuelsson, an attorney in criminal law, argues that the law does not apply to the youths in this case. "The law was written for another time, against workers' rebellions," he said.

Under this regulation anyone at the scene of what the authorities determine to be a riot can be charged and convicted. Sentences for "fomenters and leaders" are up to 10 years in prison and for participants up to four years. This law was used last year in the arrests of 243 people taking part in a "street party" organized by Reclaim the City. The violence on the part of the cops was widely criticized, and a sizable protest was organized.

Another argument put forward by the prosecutors was that the youths were all guilty of attempted violence because they were there "together and in consultation." They argued that all the participants in the occupation knew about stockpiling of stones and other "weapons," and all had a "common intent" of committing violent actions. This was also central in the media campaign.

The formulation "together and with a common purpose" has been used by prosecutors in several cases over the last decade, starting with a case in 1990 where the prosecutor put two defendants on trial, claiming both had been present at a murder, while acknowledging he couldn't prove who had committed it. The defendants were acquitted. Two years later the high court of Sweden accepted the notion of "common purpose" in a separate murder case.

This precedent has been used in several recent cases where the defendant has been very unpopular, including right-wing murderers and arsonists.

In the Linköping trial the court was not ready to accept this part of the prosecutor's case, but it had served its purpose in the media of justifying the long pretrial jailings.

The Swedish ruling class has been united in this attack on democratic rights. Few voices have been raised in protest of the political trial in Linköping. The "left" organizations are quiet or have undercut a united defense by arguing that the youths used "wrong and dangerous methods."

The Communist League and Young Socialists in Sweden issued a statement June 24 condemning the cop assault on the occupation, the subsequent jailing of the youths, and the trial and convictions. The outcome means "the court wants to increase the possibilities to use cops and the courts to suppress political and social protest.

"It confirms that the issue is not whether the youths that occupied a house in Linköping used right or wrong tactics," the statement said. "No. The issue is that the cops and the court used the youths' fight for a youth house in Linköping as an excuse for launching a brutal attack on democratic rights. The issue is the necessity to defend these youths against this injustice in order to be able to defend everybody's democratic rights in the future."

The statement said that capitalist governments around the world are in an increasingly insecure situation given the social and economic crisis. The labor movement, it said, has a giant stake in defending the youths because the government will use the same laws and repressive measures against the unions and working-class fighters.

Dag Tirsén is a member of the metal workers union  
 
 
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