Scandal SC Justice Shames Sweden

There's no longer a turning back.

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DUCKPOND (Rixstep) — As the systemic scandals continue to unravel - today Quick, tomorrow Assange - those at the epicentre, experiencing increasing pressure, are starting to lose their 'ish'.

The latest is - hold your breath - a supreme court justice.

Göran Lambertz, as far as the Quick scandal goes, is in things up to his bloodshot eyeballs.

Chancellor for Justice

The egregious Lambertz was Sweden's chancellor for justice in a former life. As unrest over the Quick scandal started coming to a slow boil seven years ago, Lambertz was asked to review the eight convictions of a serial killer that didn't exist, who'd been convicted in all eight cases without a shred of evidence.

Certainly courts have something to go on if a suspect admits a deed. But police and prosecutors will normally see if the story checks out, as so many loonies confess to crimes they can't possibly have committed.

The 'Quick Mafia' as they're called today - including scandal lawyer Claes Borgström - not only found no evidence to corroborate Quick's testimony, they also found an endless stream of hard evidence that Quick could not possibly have committed any of the murders in question - and they deliberately hid this information from the courts.

And thus the scandal, and thus the referral to the Chancellor for Justice in 2006, who at that time was Claes Borgström's drinking buddy Göran Lambertz.

There are some 50,000 pages of documentation in the Quick cases. Yet Lambertz dismissed it all in eight days.

One case per day. Who can read - must less digest - 6,250 pages per day?

The Making of a Serial Killer / The Man Who Stopped Lying

So when legendary investigative journalist Hannes Råstam got his hands on the Quick case files, everything started to fall apart. And one must not forget either that the real killers are still free, their crimes now passing out the statute of limitations.

Råstam's book and filmed documentary turned Sweden inside-out. Time for reporter Dan Josefsson to enter: he dug even deeper, and got to the root of the corruption. Josefsson's book 'The Man Who Stopped Lying' took up where Råstam's book left off.

The transmission of Josefsson's television documentary has been blocked for viewing outside Sweden.

But leading journalists inside the pond - such as Eva Franchell - were able to see it. And they were also able to witness the shameless display by Lambertz when he entered the studio afterwards for a panel discussion.

Göran Lambertz is not per se a member of the Quick Mafia - he's only good friends with them. And as he himself ratified them seven years ago, his bony backside is on the line too.

People were at first surprised, then shocked, to see Lambertz turn up everywhere in the media, spouting things that wouldn't get through a preschool course in law. The smirk he always wore told people he was guilty and knew it.

But last night's performance - this part is of course not blocked by the government - was the last straw for most people. Sture Bergwall - Quick himself - left the studio under protest at such a clown being called in.

Franchell on Lambertz

But it was Aftonbladet columnist Eva Franchell who drove the wooden stake home.

So supreme court justice Göran Lambertz thinks we media people have been fooling ourselves.

Maybe he should think a bit about his own performance on TV last night. You can watch it on SVT Play.

It's actually discomforting - and not just a bit sad - to see a justice from our supreme court sit in a television studio and act the fool. He should speak of principles, but instead comes back time and again to the police dog Sampo.

He still defends the verdicts [all eight overturned today] against Sture Bergwall [Quick] and the only proof he has is that Sampo seems to have found a scent at supposed crime scenes. The police found no further evidence. The only proof Lambertz has is a dog's nose. A justice of our supreme court cannot be allowed to behave in this fashion.

But Lambertz is fighting for his own reputation too.

Göran Lambertz was chancellor for justice when his office was tasked with reviewing the Quick police investigations. It took Lambertz a mere eight days to certify that all eight verdicts were well founded in fact. One day for each case.



Then Quick changed his name back to Sture Bergwall, retracted his earlier testimony, all cases were reopened, and he's been acquitted of all charges. Minister for justice Beatrice Ask will now let professor Daniel Tarschys lead a commission to scrutinise the Quick scandal.

But the commission should also scrutinise the role of Göran Lambertz. Why such a shoddy review of the cases back in 2006? And why now conspire with the Quick Mafia - with prosecutor Christer van der Kwast, investigator Seppo Penttinen, and defence attorney Claes Borgström?

What's with Lambertz' cronies?

It's rather remarkable he still gets in TV studios to tell the nation that a man, finally acquitted of crimes he cannot possibly have committed, is in fact still guilty. That's hardly helping the nation's evaporating confidence in their justice system.

It's not easy to oust a sitting supreme court justice. For that we need a crime or serious negligence. Then it can be done. A government can't be allowed to send off a justice simply because the situation is uncomfortable.

Which means that Göran Lambertz himself must decide if it's time to finally step down. Perhaps the report of the coming commission can help him decide. Whatever: we simply cannot have a fool like Lambertz sitting on the highest court in our land.

The commission must also scrutinise the treatment methods that led Quick to admit to 38 murders, the supposed 'victims' often found to be alive. They were into that 'repressed memory' thing, and that's something that possibly doesn't even exist..

Do we have other cases in Sweden based on 'repressed memory'?

The mind boggles.

See Also
Aftonbladet: Skämskudde när Lambertz är i tv