Swedish appeals court fines ex-national security adviser for gross negligence

A Swedish appeals court on Monday ​found former national security ​adviser Henrik Landerholm, a friend ‌of the ​prime minister, guilty of mishandling secret information, overturning a lower court ruling. The case, involving documents left ‌at a hotel in 2023, has embarrassed Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson as it unfolded against the backdrop of a deepening security crisis in the Baltic Sea region ‌following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Kristersson submitted his resignation after his ‌right-wing government lost its parliamentary majority in a general election in September, but he is leading a caretaker government while a new government is being formed. Last year, a district court ⁠found ​Landerholm not guilty, saying ⁠he had been negligent, but not gravely.

"Unlike the district court ... the court of appeal ⁠finds that the man disclosed the information contained in the documents through gross negligence," ​the Svea Court of Appeal in Stockholm said in a statement. "The only ⁠reasonable explanation for the man having left the documents behind is that he was quite ⁠careless ​when emptying the safe-deposit box where he had kept them," it said.

The appeals court fined Landerholm, Sweden's first national security adviser, 52,000 Swedish ⁠crowns ($5,247). Landerholm, who has pleaded not guilty, stepped down in January 2025 after the ⁠investigations began.

His defence ⁠lawyer was not immediately available for comment and Landerholm did not immediately respond to a request for comment. ($1 = 9.9106 ‌Swedish crowns)