Dairy farmer Frans Thomsson has previously criticized politicians for not acting quickly enough. After taking the step into politics himself, his impatience appears to have been directed at the municipality’s civil servants as well. Hundreds of phone calls, emails, and voicemails later, the newly elected Sweden Democrat (SD) politician, and former Christian Democrat (KD), is charged with two counts of harassment. He himself believes he has done nothing wrong. “If you don’t get an answer, you have to try again.”

Frans Thomsson from Tosthult outside Lönsboda has a background far removed from municipal meeting rooms. When Kristianstadsbladet profiled him in 2013, he was 26 years old and had just become a dairy farmer.

He had bought a farm, invested in milking robots, and built up an operation with hundreds of animals. His attitude toward taking risks was described in his own words:

– You have to try, you don’t want to be on your deathbed and regret what you didn’t do.

Nine years later, he sounded the alarm about the state of agriculture. Costs for diesel, electricity, and fertilizer had skyrocketed, and according to him, the government acted far too slowly.

– The clock was at five to twelve before the coronavirus pandemic. With the war in Ukraine, it’s now five past twelve, he said in 2022.

Now Thomsson himself has become a politician – and according to the prosecutor, his desire to get answers from the authorities has gone so far that it has become criminal.

Switched From KD to SD

Thomsson had previously been a local politician for the Christian Democrats and, among other things, was a member of Osby’s municipal executive committee. In February 2024, he requested to resign from the post.

But before this year’s election, he switched parties. Thomsson was eighth on the Sweden Democrats’ list for the Osby municipal council. After the election, he secured a seat on the council, according to Norra Skåne.

Around the same time as his political career took off again, an entirely different process was underway. On September 28, Thomsson was charged at the Hässleholm District Court with two counts of harassment. The plaintiffs are two managers in the Osby municipality’s social services.

According to the prosecutor, between October 2025 and July 2026, he repeatedly contacted the women by phone and, regarding one, also by email. He allegedly left angry voicemails even after the managers clearly stated he should not contact them that way. Thomsson, however, denies any wrongdoing.

421 Calls to One Manager

The preliminary investigation depicts an almost unbelievable level of phone activity. Administration manager Emma Frostensson reports that she had 104 missed calls from Thomsson in two months. Her colleague, Lisa Widbom, according to the same testimony, had 421 registered calls from him between October and August — and that does not include calls from blocked numbers.

On one day, June 26, 33 missed calls to Frostensson were logged within just over an hour.

– So in just over an hour, he calls 33 times trying to reach me, she says in the police interview.

Widbom recalls another occasion:

– On one occasion, he called 66 times in two days. It’s just not possible to answer all those calls, simply put.

According to the officials, Thomsson was not satisfied with just their direct numbers. He also called the social services’ special reception line, which is intended for urgent matters and reports of concern, among others. Sometimes, he called from a blocked number, making it impossible for staff to know if it was Thomsson, the police, or another authority trying to reach them.

Widbom states that a normal day might mean two to six calls on that line — but Thomsson alone could call about 30 times in a single day. She also recounts that on one occasion, police calls were missed by staff because they believed it was Thomsson calling.

“If You Don’t Get an Answer, You Have to Try Again”

When Thomsson himself was interviewed by police on September 15, he gave a vastly different version. His contacts with social services were related to a case involving his children and his perception that he had not received answers about how the authorities and their staff had acted.

When asked how often he contacted social services, he replied:

– Now and then because you want answers to your questions. If you have questions, you try to contact them, and if you don’t get an answer, you try again.

Police then confronted him with the 33 calls to Frostensson in a single afternoon.

– To try to get in touch with her. When I reach out to them, they don’t answer. If you don’t get an answer, you have to try again, Thomsson replied.

When the interviewer mentioned that Widbom on another occasion had received twelve calls in three minutes, he maintained the same explanation.

– You try and call, and if they choose not to answer… Legally, I have the right to ask my questions.

He added that someone in a management position is “the public face”.

“We Should Be Held Accountable”

This is also roughly how the officials describe his attitude. Widbom testified that Thomsson repeatedly insisted that officials should “be held accountable for our actions.” She also pointed out that he had assigned caseworkers and, in her view, received the information pertaining to his children and the matter in question.

Frostensson, for her part, gave a more nuanced picture than that Thomsson was always aggressive. In regular phone calls, she described him as calm and explicitly said that he had not been threatening towards her. However, the tone in some voicemails was said to be much harsher, with a raised voice, swearing, and disparaging remarks about the staff.

– I would say it’s psychologically taxing and very stressful to constantly deal with this level of contact-seeking, said Frostensson.

She also emphasized that the municipality must take criticism seriously and correct faults if any, but believes the same questions in this case kept coming again and again.

Calls Continued After Police Report

Not even the police report initially slowed down the contacts. The preliminary investigation shows that one of the managers reported on August 20 that the high frequency of calls continued almost daily and that she had received nearly 30 calls that very day.

Thomsson, however, insists that he had the right to seek out responsible managers when not receiving the answers he wanted. To Norra Skåne, he said:

– I had the right to ask questions, and since they are in managerial positions, those are the people to ask if you want to know something. I don’t think I’ve done anything wrong.

And when asked by the newspaper about the sheer volume of calls, he gave an answer that perhaps sums up the former dairy farmer’s persistence more than anything else.

– Besides, there are other municipal residents who haven’t asked any questions, so it all balances out in the end.

Leaving the Council

Thomsson first told the newspaper he planned to leave the council if convicted. However, the SD group leader says he will step down regardless of the outcome of the criminal case, and the paperwork will be submitted at the very first council meeting.

The group leader says the party was unaware of the charges when Thomsson ran in the election and that he would not have been on the list if the party had known of the suspicions.

Thomsson himself continues to deny any wrongdoing. In the police interview, he was asked how he thought all the contact attempts were perceived by the managers. His answer was simple.

– They probably just thought it was someone trying to get hold of them. If you’re in a management position, you are the public face.