Six new alleged victims have emerged in a case involving a former employee of a Stockholm LGBT group who has been charged with sexually assaulting and raping asylum seekers.
Last week a former employee of the Stockholm branch of the Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex Rights (RFSL) was charged with multiple counts of sexual assault and rape against four male LGBT asylum seekers, with the assaults allegedly taking place at the group’s office in Södermalm in 2019.
According to a report from Swedish broadcaster Sveriges Radio, another six alleged victims of the same man have come forward, and a new investigation has been launched.
The broadcaster states that all of the new accusers are over the age of 18. The assaults related to the new accusations took place either before or during the timeframe of the existing cases in 2019 and occurred at the same office in Södermalm.
Prosecutor Reena Sarwar, however, would not confirm details of the new investigation, saying: “I cannot comment on whether or not there is anything else going on. I can neither confirm nor deny whether there are any more plaintiffs.”
Prosecutor Paulina Pilati of the City Prosecutor’s Office in Stockholm had remarked on the first set of charges last week, alleging the man preyed on vulnerable asylum seekers who came to him for advice.
“They have sought him out for help and advice in their asylum process or in their right to stay in Sweden. The key question in the court’s review is whether the men have been in a particularly vulnerable situation, which I think they have been,” Ms Pilati said.
The case is not the first time a member of an LGBT organisation in Sweden has been accused of sex crimes in recent years. In 2017, a member of the Stockholm Pride organisation, which runs the city’s pride parades, was revealed to have been convicted of raping a 13-year-old boy in 2011.