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Swede allowed to leave Poland after eight years

The Local Sweden
The Local Sweden - [email protected]
Swede allowed to leave Poland after eight years

A 50 year old Swedish citizen, who was not allowed to leave Poland for many years due to his involvement in legal proceedings there, has now returned to Sweden.

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"When you've been waiting for something for so long you just feel empty when you get it," the man told Dagens Nyheter.

Polish police arrested the man in 1994 and a prosecutor later charged him on suspicion of fraud in connection with a Polish bankruptcy.

After information from Swedish prosecutors which suggested that he could have been involved in organised crime, his passport was confiscated and a travel ban was imposed.

Despite the fact that those details turned out to be false, the Swede - who was previously a Polish citizen - was sentenced to five years imprisonment by a court in southern Poland.

That sentence was later overturned by a higher court and the travel ban was lifted in July.

In a comment to DN, justice minister Thomas Bodström said that Sweden had demanded that the sentence be reviewed and that the man should be allowed to serve any jail time in Sweden.

But many countries believe that making such a reform widespread would place too much of a strain on resources, according to Bodström. The EU court has received a number of complaints against Poland for dragging out its legal processes.

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