Cultural profile linked to Swedish Academy found guilty of rape
A major cultural figure in Sweden, who is at the centre of a sex and financial crimes scandal that has led to the Swedish Academy cancelling this year's Nobel prize in literature, has been found guilty of the rape of a woman on a night in Stockholm seven years ago.
The 72-year-old has been sentenced to serve two years in prison after he was found guilty on one of two charges of rape against a woman in October 2011.
The allegations against the man, who ran an influential cultural group that was closely tied to the Swedish Academy, began in November 2017 when 18 women came forward in the newspaper Dagens Nyheter with abuse allegations against him.
Presiding judge Gudrun Antemar said: "The Court’s responsibility in a criminal case is to decide whether the prosecutor has proven the charges beyond a reasonable doubt. The evidence in this case has mainly consisted of statements made during the trial by the injured party and several witnesses. The court has made a thorough evaluation of the evidence and the court’s conclusion is that the evidence is enough to find the defendant guilty of one of the events for which the prosecutor has brought charges."
The man has been ordered to pay SEK 115 000 in compensation to the victim.
Today's verdict coincided with the start of Nobel week, with the Karolinska Institute awarding the 2018 Nobel prize in physiology or medicine.
