Mass murderer should stay in jail: prosecution
Although mass murderer Mattias Flink's life sentence was commuted to 32 years earlier this month, the prosecution wants Flink stay in prison.
The reason is that the value of the punishment for seven murders and three attempted murders is much higher than the time-limited penalty that Örebro district court handed down on July 7th.
Three weeks ago, Flink's life sentence was commuted after he had already spent 16 years in prison. The fixed-term penalty means that Flink could be a free man in five years by the summer of 2015.
However, the prosecutor wants Flink to remain in prison. The prosecution agrees with the district court that Flink has demonstrated exemplary behaviour in prison and that he poses no foreseeable risk of becoming a repeat offender.
However, it is simply the number of murders that were committed that leads the prosecution to not want Flink to be set free. Exactly how many years the prosecting authority wants Flink to remain in confinement remains unclear.
"The court is supposed to assess that," said chief prosecutor Ulf Stålhane. "However, we believe that they should wait and see because they are extremely serious crimes, unique in Sweden."
Flink's attorney Johan Eriksson was critical with the announcement.
"I think it is nonsense," he said. "The prosecutor claimed at the hearing that my client would receive a sentence that would considerably exceed 24 years, the maximum limit that the Supreme Court ruled for crimes with particularly aggravating circumstances."
He added, "And she got what she wanted. It was another eight years."
In June 1994, Flink, then 24, killed seven people and injured three shots in the vicinity of Dalregementet in Falun in central Sweden, where he was stationed and had held the rank of second lieutenant.
He had argued with his girlfriend and was heavily intoxicated when he fired 51 shots with his military-issued AK5 file, killing five women and two men aged 20 to 35 in a park in the centre of town.
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The reason is that the value of the punishment for seven murders and three attempted murders is much higher than the time-limited penalty that Örebro district court handed down on July 7th.
Three weeks ago, Flink's life sentence was commuted after he had already spent 16 years in prison. The fixed-term penalty means that Flink could be a free man in five years by the summer of 2015.
However, the prosecutor wants Flink to remain in prison. The prosecution agrees with the district court that Flink has demonstrated exemplary behaviour in prison and that he poses no foreseeable risk of becoming a repeat offender.
However, it is simply the number of murders that were committed that leads the prosecution to not want Flink to be set free. Exactly how many years the prosecting authority wants Flink to remain in confinement remains unclear.
"The court is supposed to assess that," said chief prosecutor Ulf Stålhane. "However, we believe that they should wait and see because they are extremely serious crimes, unique in Sweden."
Flink's attorney Johan Eriksson was critical with the announcement.
"I think it is nonsense," he said. "The prosecutor claimed at the hearing that my client would receive a sentence that would considerably exceed 24 years, the maximum limit that the Supreme Court ruled for crimes with particularly aggravating circumstances."
He added, "And she got what she wanted. It was another eight years."
In June 1994, Flink, then 24, killed seven people and injured three shots in the vicinity of Dalregementet in Falun in central Sweden, where he was stationed and had held the rank of second lieutenant.
He had argued with his girlfriend and was heavily intoxicated when he fired 51 shots with his military-issued AK5 file, killing five women and two men aged 20 to 35 in a park in the centre of town.
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