Jackie Arklöv

Case record

Jackie Arklöv was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Background

Jackie Arklöv (born June 6, 1973) was a Swedish major criminal and police killer. He was born in Liberia. His biological mother was black and his father was white. At the age of 3 he was adopted by a couple from a small village in northern Sweden. In his teens he developed a strong interest in nazism and World War II. Later on he joined a nazi organisation and became an active supporter.

Jackie Arklöv participated voluntarily in the war in Yugoslavia in the 1990s, as a mercenary on the Croatian side when he was only 19 years old. He was accused of war crimes, including torturing Bosniak prisoners in camps in Gabela and Grabovina. After the war he was sentenced to 13 years in prison by a Bosnian court. The sentence was later changed to 8 years, taking his young age into consideration. He spent 1 year in a Bosnian prison, and returned to Sweden after an exchange of prisoners organized by the Swedish Red Cross.

In Sweden he was taken into custody, but after a while he was acquitted for lack of evidence.

Investigation

In March 2004, Dagens Nyheter journalist Maciej Zaremba published an article where he strongly criticized the closure of the case. Zaremba managed to find several witnesses to the war crimes. Later that year the prosecuter decided to re-open the investigation. In June 2006 it was clear that Arklöv would be prosecuted.

While in custody, Arklöv received several letters from another nazi, Tony Olsson, who was starting a new nazi organisation and wanted Arklöv to join. Arklöv wrote back, and the two became friends.

After being released, Arklöv and Olsson met with the other members of the newly started NRA (Nationalistiska Republikanska Armén, the Nationalistic Republican Army), among them Andreas Axelsson and Mats Nilsson. This resulted in a robbery tour in the Swedish province Östergötland in 1999.

The offence

Robbery tour and killings in Sweden

On May 28, 1999, in the small town of Kisa, Jackie Arklöv, Tony Olsson, and Andreas Axelsson robbed a bank. They got away with over 2 million Swedish krona.

During their escape, they came across two policemen who were setting up road blocks just outside the small community of Malexander. There was a shootout between the robbers and the policemen, and finally the policemen were executed with their own weapons.

Jackie Arklöv and Tony Olsson fled. Andreas Axelsson had been hit by a bullet and was taken to the hospital by a car flagged down by Arklöv.

On May 31, 1999, Arklöv was shot down by the police in Tyresö outside Stockholm and again arrested and put into custody.

Crimes against humanity related to Bosnia

In the 2006 war-crimes case, the court ruled that Arklöv was guilty of wrongful imprisonment, torture and assault of 11 Bosnian Muslim prisoners of war and civilians, ethnic cleansing, looting, and arbitrary detention of people. The court characterized the crimes as crimes protected by international law.

Trial

Swedish trial for the police killings and robbery

During the trial, Arklöv claimed to be completely innocent. He said he had been in Stockholm the entire time and did not take part in any of the robberys or the murders.

The evidence against him included police findings that included his fingerprints on a gun and his DNA on a mask and in the car.

After that he confessed to the robbery in Kisa, but still denied to have killed the policemen. The material states that all three of the men were involved and that it could never be proved who was the killer. The court then found them all guilty of murder because it was clear that they had all been shooting at the two policemen. They were sentenced to life imprisonment.

The sentence was appealed to the Court of Appeal. Arklöv kept denying he had anything to do with the murders. The Court of Appeal gave the same sentence: life imprisonment for all three.

In 2001, Arklöv suddenly decided to confess and stated he was indeed the one who fired the final, lethal shots at the policemen. Tony Olsson and Andreas Axelsson moved a petition for a new trial to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court regarded the life sentence as written in such a way that Arklöv’s confession would not change anything. The petition was rejected.

At the same time, Arklöv said he had abandoned his nazi beliefs and had contacted the Exit group for help.

Bosnia war-crimes trial

His trial opened on November 10, 2006 and the judges made their ruling on December 18, 2006. The court ruled that he was guilty of wrongful imprisonment, torture and assault of 11 Bosnian Muslim prisoners of war and civilians, ethnic cleansing, looting, and arbitrary detention of people.

“This is the first time in modern times that a person has been convicted in a Swedish court of violating international law,” the court said in a statement.

The Stockholm District court did not hand down a prison sentence to Jacky Arklov because he was already serving a life term for killing two police officers in Sweden. The court ordered him to pay between 70,000-425,000 kronor (€7,700-€47,000; US$10,100- US$62,000) to 11 victims.

Sentencing

Life imprisonment for the police killings

The court sentenced Jackie Arklöv and the other men to life imprisonment for murder connected to the police killings during the robbery.

The Court of Appeal upheld the same sentence, giving life imprisonment for all three. The Supreme Court petition for a new trial was rejected.

Bosnia war-crimes compensation without additional prison time

On December 18, 2006, the Stockholm District court ordered Jackie Arklöv to pay between 70,000-425,000 kronor (€7,700-€47,000; US$10,100- US$62,000) to 11 victims for wrongful imprisonment, torture and assault of prisoners of war and civilians, ethnic cleansing, looting, and arbitrary detention of people.

The court did not hand down an additional prison sentence because he was already serving a life term for killing two police officers in Sweden.

Outcome

Jackie Arklöv was serving his life sentence.

Aftermath

Jackie Arklöv was serving his life sentence at the Kumla High Security Prison. He was an artist. Seven paintings put out on an exhibition for prison art were at Långholmen in Stockholm.

He had contacted the Exit group for help after saying he had abandoned his nazi beliefs.