Rättsröta affair
Rättsröta affair ( Swedish rättsrötan , roughly "corruption in the legal system") is the collective name for several affairs that preoccupied the public in Sweden in the first half of the 1950s . The four related affairs involved allegations of corruption and abuse of power in the Swedish judiciary . The affairs gained a lot of attention mainly because the writer Vilhelm Moberg publicly joined the allegations and ensured their further dissemination.
The affairs
Kejne affair
In the Kejne affair, Karl-Erik Kejne, pastor at the Evangelical City Mission in Stockholm , alleged that there was a conspiracy of homosexuals in higher social classes to organize homosexual practices and to be covered by influential people. These allegations were particularly explosive because in Sweden the criminality of male homosexuality among adults had been lifted in 1944 and the social consequences of this reform were now being discussed controversially. The allegations were soon refuted, but led to the resignation of State Secretary and Judge Nils Quensel from the government in 1951 because he was accused of abusing his office to ensure that a lay preacher named Gösta Malmberg, who, according to Karl-Erik Kejne, had homosexual contacts with Nils Quensel and who later blackmailed him with it, was admitted to psychiatry .
Hajby affair
The Hajby affair was about the fact that the restaurant owner Kurt Hajby from Stockholm was said to have had a homosexual relationship with King Gustav V , who died in 1950, in the 1930s and that state authorities under the leadership of Governor Torsten Nothin are said to have ensured that that Kurt Hajby is admitted to psychiatry to protect the king. It was also revealed that the court had paid Kurt Hajby large sums of money. He was sentenced to eight years in prison for extortion in 1952 , and on appeal the sentence was reduced to six years a year later.
Selling Affair
In the Selling affair it was a matter that the Naturhistoriska riksmuseet should have tried in Stockholm, the botanist Olof Selling one using psychiatrist for insane to explain to withdraw the line of palaeobotanical section of the museum. The affair, in which Herbert Tingsten was also involved, led to the resignation of Justice Minister Herman Zetterberg in 1957 . In 1958, Selling was convicted of misconduct and insult .
Lundquist affair
Folke Lundquist, judge in Stockholm, was responsible for the management of several large estates as official guardian . In the 1930s and 1940s, several criminal charges were brought against him for embezzlement without any consequences. Instead, several people who had made such allegations were admitted to psychiatric care or convicted of false suspicions . It was not until October 1953 that Folke Lundquist was finally sentenced to three years' imprisonment and removal from service.
literature
- Maths Heuman: Rättsaffärerna Kejne och Haijby. Norstedts, Stockholm 1978
- Vilhelm Moberg: Att övervaka överheten. Bonniers, Stockholm 1953
- Vilhelm Moberg: Otrons artiklar - läsning i blandade ämnen. Författarförlaget, Gothenburg 1973
- Vilhelm Moberg: I egen sak - obekväma inlägg i det offentliga samtalet, Otto von Friesen ( ed .). Ordfront, Stockholm 1984
- Torsten Nothin: Regeringsmakt och rättssäkerhet 2. uppl. Norstedts, Stockholm 1953
- Göran Söderström (red.): Sympatiens hemlighetsfulla makt. Stockholmia, Stockholm 1999
- Rättsrötans årtionde - Arbetaren och rättsskandalerna , tidningen Arbetaren