Law would stiffen punishment for war criminals
The government wants to strengthen the law against war criminals who are tried in Sweden, reports the newspaper Sydsvenskan. The most significant change to the law would allow the court to sentence war criminals to life in prison for systematic rape and torture.
As greater numbers of refugees from war zones streamed into Sweden over the past decades, so have people who have committed serious crimes during war.
Swedish police have 25 open investigations against individuals suspected of crimes of war in Iraq, Rwanda, Sudan and the former Yugoslavia.
The Swedish government does not think the Swedish legislation does enough to cover murder, rape, and torture committed in far-away conflicts. The risk is that war criminals get more lenient sentences for the crimes committed.
"The goal is to adapt the law to international conventions," Karolina Wieslander, at the Department of Justice, tells Sydsvenskan.
