Three men of foreign background have been convicted for a brutal assault on a 15-year-old Swedish boy in Rönninge in September last year. But despite the perpetrators pointing out the victim’s ethnic background in a chat conversation, the incident is not classified as a hate crime.
– No, there is nothing about that, says prosecutor Hanna Loftås to Samnytt.

“2 guys”, “2 Swedes”, “Attack them”, “Give it to them”.

It was in September last year that a group of immigrant men in Rönninge, south of Stockholm, wrote to each other in a Snapchat group.

Judging by the chat communication, they are planning to assault, among others, a Swedish boy who had turned fifteen that same summer.

Accidentally Looked at the Gang

The chain of events leading to the assault was that the 15-year-old boy and a friend had, earlier in the day, accidentally looked at a group of men in Salem’s city center. This provoked the men.

– Then two of the guys approached us and said we couldn’t just look at them. They each slapped us—me on the neck and my friend in the face, the 15-year-old recounts in a police interview.

It was after this incident that the men planned their act of violence against the boys, who in the Snapchat plans are described as “2 guys” and “2 Swedes”.

The 15-year-old boy was attacked by the gang outside Salem’s ice rink, which is located next to Salem’s city center. First, they took his mobile phone and searched through its contents.

The boy was then brutally assaulted. He was kicked in the head and stomped on while lying on the ground. He suffered a concussion and lost consciousness during the assault.

Three Convicted

Now, three men aged between 18 and 20 have been convicted for the aggravated assault against the 15-year-old Swede. A fourth accused was acquitted of two counts of aiding and abetting.

One of those convicted is 18-year-old Charbel Chamoun, who was born in Sweden to immigrants from Lebanon. He was sentenced to prison for two years and two months for aggravated assault. Chamoun, who confessed to assault of a lesser degree, has previously been convicted for unlawful threats and assault.

Another convicted is 20-year-old Arslan Mezhiev, born in Sweden to immigrants from Russia. He was sentenced to one year and eleven months in prison for the same charge. Mezhiev has previously been convicted for weapons offenses and several minor drug offenses.

Both these men, however, were acquitted of the charge of unlawful deprivation of liberty.

The third convicted man, who is also eighteen but was seventeen when the crime was committed, was sentenced to seven months in prison, also for aggravated assault. He is also born in Sweden but has partial origins from the former Yugoslavia.

The assaulted boy is Swedish.

Prosecutor: No Hate Crime Motive

Prosecutor Hanna Loftås cannot say whether she is satisfied with the verdict or plans to appeal.

She also avoids a question of whether the degrading act could have been classified as aggravated assault with a hate crime motive, given the victim is Swedish, the perpetrators are of foreign background, and the victim’s ethnicity is mentioned in the chat planning the act.

– I will soon be on call, and I don’t want to provide a quote without considering it. So I must ask to get back to you, says Hanna Loftås to Samnytt.

Don’t you even want to say whether that was something you considered when the indictment was filed; that there could have been a hate crime motive?

– No, there is nothing about that.