The Acquittal In The Trial On Human Smuggling May Create Precedence

Halmstads
District exculpatory judgments in the great huge trial about human smuggling
from Vietnam
are appealed to the court of appeal.
    The
punishment for aggravated organisation of smuggling and human trafficking are according
to existing Swedish laws serious imprisonment of between six months and a
maximum of six years.
    Thirty-five
people, men and women, all but one of Vietnamese origin was charged in the
biggest trial of smuggling in Swedish legal history. All was acquitted at the
end of June after a gigantic trial the district court in Halmstad.
    Now, the chief
prosecutor Thomas Wennerstrand send the whole case to the court of appeal,
writes Svenska Dagbladet.
“The
district court’s judgement went against the practices that exist. It is an
important case that should be adjudicated in the court of appeal. And if the
district court judgement agrees with the district court, it may well force the politicians
to think about a change in the law”.
    According
to the prosecution the organizers of the smuggling of people from Vietnam into Sweden, earned between 10 and 20
million kronor by arranging 15 marriages, bribe to the documents of the Vietnamese
authorities, which were eventually granted residence permits issued by the
migration board.
    All papers
were correct. Marriage took place both in Vietnam
and in Sweden,
the country where one partner had a residence permit. It then applied to the
other party for a residence permit, claiming legal ties. The marriages of
convenience costing about 100 000 kronor. Around 20 children have been smuggled
into Sweden,
children who DNA tests said did not appear to be biological children of parents
who stated that. The children were put to work in Sweden in slavery like conditions.
    But the
district court acquitted the accused because the involved did not enter Sweden
unlawfully and therefore the law could not apply for smuggling.
    The Halmstad
judgement has already coursed a legal debate. The chief prosecutor Wennerstrand
believes that if the judgement will stand, then all regulated immigration to Sweden
eliminated.. Marianne Paulsson from the Halland’s police says in a comment:
    “The
Swedish law is outdated. The district courts judgement means that it is free to
bribe to produce the documents, and through marriages of convenience and lies
smuggle people into Sweden
and earn lots of money. It is questionable whether the legislature intended
such a move.