The Justice System Fails—Again: Gang Figure Aschberg Acquitted Despite Admitting to Setting Fire to SR Profile's Hair

The gang figure Amin Kibuka, previously Aschberg, was charged with attempted aggravated assault against former Sveriges Radio profile Egon Malmgren on board an SL bus in February 2020. However, since the district court did not consider the crime to meet the threshold for attempted aggravated assault, he is acquitted—despite a confession—since the offense is now time-barred.

It was a Sunday afternoon in February 2020 when Egon Malmberg, a former newsreader for 35 years at Sveriges Radio Ekot, was sitting on an SL bus on his way to a birthday celebration in Stockholm. Behind him were two young men, one filming as the other set fire to Malmberg’s hair.

A passenger witnessed what happened and notified the bus driver, who stopped the bus and called the police. However, by the time the police arrived, the suspects had already left the scene.

It later emerged that one of the men—the one who set fire to Malmberg’s hair—was 21-year-old Amin Kibuka, formerly Aschberg.

Previous Gang Offenses

The month after Aschberg’s first police interview, he was sentenced to four months in prison for robbery and aggravated unlawful use of a vehicle. Before he even began serving this sentence, he committed several new crimes, for which he was sentenced to a total of nine months in prison.

In March 2023, a townhouse area in western Stockholm was shaken by a very powerful bombing, which completely destroyed several homes. The bombing was part of the ongoing immigration-related gang war in Stockholm.

Aschberg was also implicated in this atrocity. In February 2024, he was sentenced by the Stockholm District Court to twelve years in prison for attempted murder and gross destruction endangering the public—a verdict later upheld by the Svea Court of Appeal.

Before being sentenced for that crime, Aschberg changed his last name to Kibuka in November 2023. His father is from Uganda, and it was his father’s surname that the young gang enforcer adopted.

Montage by Samnytt. Amin Aschberg / The bombing in western Stockholm. Photo: Police

Investigation Closed

The police’s head of investigation, Mats Selerud, decided to close the preliminary investigation into the arson attack on Egon Malmgren in November 2024—four and a half years after the incident. The reason was that Aschberg had been sentenced for other crimes.

“It can be assumed that prosecution for the crime would not be brought due to a provision regarding non-prosecution in Chapter 20 of the Code of Judicial Procedure. No significant public or private interest is set aside by closing the investigation,” Selerud wrote in his decision, adding:

“[The suspect] has been convicted or fined for other crime. The penalty then determined is sufficient to also cover the new crime. Society’s or the individual’s interests do not prevent non-prosecution,” Selerud reasoned.

This decision left Malmgren disappointed.

– I am doubly affected. First, I was a victim of the assault, and then I was let down by the Swedish justice system. That’s twice over. It’s terrible, he told Samnytt in May last year.

Charged Anyway

The decision to close the investigation met with widespread criticism from political circles.

Minister of Justice Gunnar Strömmer described it as the current system may have “very undesirable consequences,” while the Social Democrats’ legal policy spokesperson Teresa Carvalho wrote that “crime victims must get justice.”

After this criticism, the police chose to reopen the investigation against Aschberg, and in February this year the prosecutor filed charges for attempted aggravated assault.

Aschberg Confesses—but Is Acquitted

In the main hearing, Egon Malmberg recounted how he broke down outside the bus immediately after the incident, that the mental trauma still lingers, and that he has nightmares. “The situation felt life-threatening,” the verdict states.

Amin Aschberg admits that it is him seen in the video and that he was the one who set Holmgrens’s hair on fire. He claims he had nothing against him but “is ashamed and apologizes for what happened.”

Despite confessing to the act, he was acquitted by the Nacka District Court, which did not consider the crime to meet the requirements for attempted aggravated assault. Among other things, the court noted that Malmberg reacted immediately and managed to extinguish the flames himself and therefore only suffered “minor” injuries.

Why Aschberg Was Acquitted:

In this case, it can be concluded that the physical injuries suffered by Egon Holmgren were relatively minor. This was largely due to Egon Holmgren reacting immediately and being able to extinguish the flame himself. Had he not done so, the injuries could have become much worse. However, it has not been shown that the act was life-threatening as described above, nor that Egon Holmgren could have suffered the kind of severe and extensive bodily harm required to qualify the crime as aggravated. The incident took place in broad daylight and Egon Holmgren was on a bus with others around him who noticed what happened and could have intervened if necessary.

The flame went out immediately when Egon Holmgren smothered it with his palm. Regarding the qualifying factors of particular ruthlessness and cruelty, there is no doubt that Amin Kibuka showed great recklessness by suddenly and completely unprovoked attacking a stranger in the way that happened. The act also suggests indifference to what could have happened to Egon Holmgren. Nevertheless, the district court does not consider that Amin Kibuka displayed such recklessness or cruelty that clearly exceeds what is involved in causing injury. Even though it was a serious assault, it does not reach the level required to be classified as aggravated (cf. NJA 2023 p. 560). The assessment is the same whether it concerns a completed or attempted crime.

The above means that the indictment is dismissed because the offense is statute-barred.

– Nacka District Court