Swedish official charged with having secret documents that could have threatened national security

Published on 24/04/2026 - 14:44 GMT+2

A elder Swedish diplomat serving arsenic peculiar envoy to Syria was charged connected Friday with unauthorised possession of classified documents which could person jeopardised Sweden's nationalist information successful the hands of a overseas power, prosecutors said.

"This concerns highly-classified accusation that the suspect has unlawfully handled by taking location and past keeping the documents containing classified accusation successful his residence and vacation home," authoritative Mats Ljungqvist said successful a statement.

The diplomat gained entree to the classified accusation "through his erstwhile duties, but which helium past took with him without authorisation and subsequently appropriated arsenic his own."

According to the complaint sheet, "disclosing the accusation to a overseas powerfulness whitethorn beryllium detrimental to Sweden's security."

However, the diplomat acted "without immoderate volition of serving a overseas power," it said.

The diplomat, who was arrested successful May 2025, had besides been suspected of transmitting classified documents to a erstwhile person from the cardinal Swedish municipality of Gävle, but prosecutors person closed that probe owed to deficiency of evidence, Ljungkvist said.

In May past year, Sweden's information work Sapo carried retired raids connected the diplomat's 2 homes.

Disguised arsenic operation workers, they raided his location astatine dawn and arrested him and different person. That idiosyncratic is nary longer considered a suspect.

The arrests came the aforesaid time that different diplomat, Joachim Bergstrom, was arrested suspected of spying successful different melodramatic raid by information services.

Masked agents burst into Bergstrom's flat and pulled him retired successful his pyjamas.

Less than 48 hours later, aft helium had been released from custody but was inactive considered a suspect, helium killed himself.

Thomas Olsson, the lawyer for the diplomat charged connected Friday, told the AFP quality bureau his lawsuit "denies these acts and maintains that the allegations are wholly unfounded."

"My lawsuit has worked astatine the overseas work for decades and handled tens of thousands of antithetic documents, including these ones," helium said.

The question of whether his lawsuit should person had the documents successful his possession astatine his residences was a substance of overseas ministry procedure, helium said.

"If you don't travel the interior rules, astatine astir it's a disciplinary matter. It's hardly thing you should beryllium utilizing the Security Service to enforce."