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Former Swedish Police Chief is Jailed for Rape
The Independent (UK), 31 July 2010 by Allan Hall in Stockholm
A former chief constable in Sweden, who was known for lecturing on gender equality and sexual harassment, has been jailed for six and-a-half years for rape and other sex crimes.
Goran Lindberg, former head of the country's police academy, was found guilty on 17 out of 23 charges including one of aggravated rape, three charges of rape, 10 charges of pimping and eight counts of paying prostitutes for sex. He was cleared of "preparing to rape a child". What made Lindberg's crimes so shocking to Swedes was that he was the police force's top expert on morality and ethics and had been described as "the face and future of policing".
The court in Stockholm heard how Lindberg had been under police surveillance in January this year when he was stopped as he drove to meet a 14-year-old girl he had groomed for sex online. The court was told that Lindberg had a bag full of sex toys he had taken along for the encounter. He was then arrested.
Lindberg, 64, later told police he thought the girl was "much older": "She said on several occasions that she was 18 or 19 years old. And that's what I thought after all our phone calls and text messages," he said.
But the girl testified against him in court, claiming she told him online that she was only 16. She asked that Lindberg be absent from proceedings when she gave her evidence.
Lindberg confessed to paying for sex with hookers but denied rape and pimping. Prosecutors asked for an eight year prison sentence.
Defence lawyers urged Sodertorn District Court to allow Lindberg to go free, citing his time spend on remand as sufficient punishment, but he was jailed for six-and-a-half years.
The affair has led to calls for a South African-style truth and reconciliation committee in Uppsala to examine his 11 years spent in the city as chief of police.