Swedish ex-security adviser fined for leaving classified documents at hotel
A Swedish appeals court convicted former national security adviser Henrik Landerholm of gross negligence, fining him 52,000 kronor for leaving secret documents unlocked at a Stockholm hotel.
Swedish appeals court convicts ex-security adviser over mishandled secret files
Sweden's former national security adviser Henrik Landerholm has been found guilty of gross negligence by the Svea Court of Appeal, which handed him a fine of 52,000 kronor ($5,250), macaubusiness.com reports.
The court overturned a lower court's acquittal, ruling that Landerholm had acted recklessly when he left classified documents unlocked in a locker in his hotel room at a Stockholm hotel in March 2023.
"High standards must be imposed on anyone who handles documents containing sensitive information regarding national security," the court stated in its verdict.
The judges pointed to Landerholm's seniority and extensive background in government as aggravating factors rather than mitigating ones. "Considering, among other things, his position as national security adviser and his long experience in high-level government posts — which, according to him, has given him extensive practice in handling classified information — the Court of Appeal finds that he has been grossly negligent," the ruling read.
Prosecutors had argued that leaving the documents unsecured posed a direct risk to state security. Landerholm's defence team countered that the material would not have caused harm to national security had it been accessed, but the appeals court rejected that line of reasoning.
Landerholm, 63, resigned from his post in January 2025 following the public fallout from the incident. In a statement posted on X after Monday's verdict, he described the outcome as "of course a disappointment" and said he would analyse the ruling with his lawyer before deciding whether to pursue further legal action.
The hotel room incident was not an isolated lapse, Swedish media revealed after the scandal became public. Landerholm left his mobile phone at the Hungarian embassy in Budapest in December 2022, shortly after taking up the national security adviser role. He also misplaced a notebook following a media interview in January 2023.
His appointment in 2022 had already drawn scrutiny over his close personal friendship with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson. Before becoming national security adviser, Landerholm served as an ambassador, director of Sweden's Psychological Defence Agency, principal of the Swedish Defence University, and chairman of parliament's defence committee.
Source: Google News MT — Crime (en)