A politician for the pro-mass migration Swedish Centre Party has been arrested on several counts of child rape over incidents that are believed to have taken place from 2012 to 2015.
The man was arrested at around 11 a.m. on Friday and prosecutor Charlotte Genberg has claimed that investigators have also seized multiple electronic devices from him. He has not yet been identified.
According to a report from the Swedish newspaper Expressen, the politician is a member of the pro-mass migration Centre Party, led by Annie Lööf.
The newspaper claims that the man, who is said to be in his forties, is both a member of the council governing Vimmerby, and also sits on the board of the Centre Party for the municipality,
“This was new information for us that we became aware of through the media. It really is a heinous crime for which he is suspected. There is already an exclusion case against this person, due to previous problems he caused,” representatives of the Centre Party told Expressen.
Local newspaper Dagens Vimmberby reported on the arrest saying that in addition to the suspected child rapes, the politician is also charged with committing crimes against someone he had a close relationship with.
Prosecutor Charlotte Genberg told the paper that investigators are currently going through electronic evidence as well as interviewing witnesses in the case, and that the authorities will have two weeks to bring charges.
The arrest comes just over a week after a former employee of a Stockholm LGBT association was convicted for raping several asylum seekers who had come to him for help.
The man, said to be in his fifties, was sentenced to four years in prison after being convicted of five separate counts of rape and two counts of sexual assault against migrants aged 26 to 28.
The incidents took place while the man was employed by the National Association for the Rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex People (RFSL) in Stockholm in 2019.