Updated 14.18 | Published 14.06
The man was charged with having encouraged four people to commit suicide.
Now, however, he is acquitted on all counts, announces the Vänersborg district court.
The man, who is a Norwegian citizen, has previously been sentenced to prison for aiding and abetting a suicide in Strömstad. He is also charged in Norway for murdering a woman in Trollhättan.
However, the Vänersborg district court acquits him in another case, where he was charged with incitement to suicide on four occasions.
According to the indictment, the man sent instructions on how to commit suicide after contacting the people via Facebook. He also sent medicine to two of the people.
However, that is not enough to convict him of the crime of incitement to suicide, according to the district court.
“The fact that the plaintiffs themselves have asked for the material does not in itself rule out criminal liability. But nothing has come to light that shows that the man has influenced the plaintiffs’ will to take their own lives or that his actions have had the offensive and reckless elements that the penalty provision requires,” says lawyer Niclas Johannisson, president of the court, in a press release.
