Andreas Klominek, who earlier this year was convicted of threats and harassment against Ministers Johan Forssell and Benjamin Dousa, is now being prosecuted on suspicion of assault. According to the indictment, the 43-year-old left-wing extremist allegedly kneed journalist Nick Alinia in the face during a scuffle in Stockholm’s Old Town on May 1st.

The incident took place on May 1 this year near the subway station in Gamla stan (Old Town). According to the investigation, journalist Nick Alinia was aggressively confronted by two men, one of whom was Andreas Klominek and the other a masked 18-year-old.

In police interviews, Alinia reported that the masked individual approached him, insulted him, and then knocked the mobile phone out of his hand. Alinia and his cameraman chased after the fleeing man, managed to bring him to the ground, and held him in a citizen’s arrest while waiting for the police.

Andreas Klominek attempted to free his younger accomplice, who, according to the indictment, is also his associate. During this, Klominek kneed the journalist Alinia in the face. The incident was stopped when Alinia’s personal security intervened and pulled the violent Klominek away.

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The prosecutor has now brought assault charges against Klominek. The masked man, who is about 18, is simultaneously being prosecuted for harassment.

Denies crime and invokes self-defense

Klominek denies the allegations. In police interviews, he claimed he was only trying to help the younger man being held on the ground and had no intention to assault anyone. When asked by police why he chose to use a knee to the face, he answered:

– If I had been from behind, I could have pulled him away. But now it was from the front, so I don’t know. I couldn’t see.

His position is that he acted in a situation where he was trying to free the person being restrained. This view is not shared by the prosecutor.

Recently convicted for actions against ministers

The new indictment comes just a few months after Klominek was convicted of crimes targeting two government ministers.

The background was two high-profile actions outside migration minister Johan Forssell’s and aid and foreign trade minister Benjamin Dousa’s private homes in Bromma in January this year.

Outside Forssell’s home, Klominek placed a basket of apples onto which he had painted Adolf Hitler’s face. At Dousa’s home, he placed a human-like doll, provided with a bloody severed doll’s head and fake knives. He documented the actions and then spread the photos on social media.

READ MORE: He is prosecuted after threats against the ministers

During the police investigation, the ministers described how the incidents were deeply unsettling as they targeted their private homes and families. Johan Forssell described the attack in an interview:

– I immediately felt something was odd. There was a basket of apples with Adolf Hitler painted on it. It was very unpleasant. We had been out, and the children had been alone in the house. You start thinking: ‘Has someone been inside, or is someone still outside?’

He continued:

– I find it very unpleasant that someone comes to my home. It targets me as a politician, but also affects my family.

Benjamin Dousa similarly described how the action at his home was experienced.

– When I read the text, it became clear it was directed at me personally and not at the government or the Moderates. That made it disturbing, because it happened outside my home.

He added:

– In the first few minutes I felt the greatest concern, because I didn’t know who was behind it, what the intent was, or if they had the capacity for violence. The doll was graphic – a severed head and a knife with blood. It was disturbing to look at.

Conditional sentence for threats and harassment

Klominek was originally prosecuted for, among other things, unlawful threats, but the district court later convicted him of threats and harassment against both ministers. The sentence was a conditional sentence.

In its reasoning, the district court emphasized that the actions exceeded the line of what is protected by constitutional freedom of expression and the right to protest. Judge Lisa Anestål stated, after the verdict was delivered:

– Through his actions, the man crossed the boundary between the private and public roles of government ministers in a way that does not fall within constitutionally protected freedom of expression and the right to demonstrate.

Now, another legal process awaits Andreas Klominek, this time over the suspected assault of journalist Nick Alinia in connection with the May Day celebration in Stockholm.