Expectations are tense before the upcoming murder trial in the case of 21-year-old Tove in Vetlanda. This is clear when you read the documents received by the Eksjö district court.
Both the 18-year-old and the 20-year-old’s defense lawyers have come in with the request that the trial be held behind closed doors. Reference is made, among other things, to a rule where the court has the opportunity to decide on closed doors for defendants under the age of 21.
Clea Sangborn, defender of the 20-year-old writes:
“Everything that journalists take great pleasure in reporting on is to the obvious inconvenience of my young client who has never been prosecuted before and has no criminal identity whatsoever. How will she manage to get through the second, third and fourth day of the trial?”.
Want to prevent audio recording
The 18-year-old’s lawyer Mikael Svegfors has a similar attitude and also does not want the media to be given the opportunity to record audio from the interrogation of his client.
“She hereby clarifies that the knowledge of the recording and later broadcast to the public, of her own voice, will make it considerably more difficult, or alternatively impossible, for her to tell”.
Tove’s relatives want an open trial
Uno Karlsson, who represents Tove’s relatives, opposes the request. He believes that the public’s interest should weigh more heavily than those of the accused and that the rule on the rights of young people should no longer apply.
“Taking into account that the so-called sentence reduction for serious crimes no longer exists when the defendant turns 18, the rules about closed doors for the age group 18 and over can only be applied very restrictively.”
Even Tove’s boyfriend’s plaintiff’s assistant, lawyer Andreas Hannah, speaks up and believes that the principle of publicity weighs more heavily the more serious the crime.
Prosecutor Adam Rullman has asked to submit the decision to the court, which will take up the issue in connection with the start of the negotiations.
