Category Archives: Sweden

Domenic Johansson: LVU case Wednesday

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The LVU case is coming up in Kammarrätten next Wednesday, May 11th. The time for the hearing is 10 o´clock and it might take the whole day. A silent and peaceful protest is planned to take place outside the courthouse for an hour or two maybe, so if you have time, please join. You don´t need any placade or anything, but if you want to make one, please contact http://www.facebook.com/kelley.bee#!/profile.php?id=741294053

The address is: Kammarrätten, Birger Jarls Torg 5, Stockholm

Domenic Johansson: next court hearing set for May 11

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From: http://friendsofdomenic.blogspot.com/2011/04/next-lvu-court-hearing-set-for-may-11.html

Domenic, during his November 2010 time away from scocials and with his father.
While the Swedish Family Court plans another hearing on the Domenic Johansson kidnapping case, many observers ask, “Why bother?”
Don’t get me wrong. I believe the Johanssons should be in court fighting tooth and nail until their son has been rightfully restored to them, and I will support them to the best of my ability until that day finally arrives. As far as I am concerned, they’ve never had a real court trial in this case. Instead, these dear, gentle people have stood tried and convicted as guilty since June 25th, 2009, months before ever setting foot into an LVU court room.
As far as close observers of this case are concerned, the Johanssons have never been before a legitimate court. Every “trial” this innocent family has suffered since armed Swedish police swept onto an India bound jetliner and abducted their son, has been nothing more than what a Kangaroo Court of justice can deliver. Harsh words? Yes. Unwarranted? A resounding NO! Consider the following questions:
  • In what court, in this day and age, is it considered justice to deny the accused their choice of legal counsel, and the chance to offer witnesses and testimony supporting their claim of innocence?
  • In what court is justice served when a sitting judge is presented written testimony as evidence from doctors and psychiatrists stating the mental health of the accused to be sound, yet this same judge ignores the expert testimony and instead accepts as gospel truth the testimony of child welfare workers, who are neither doctors nor psychiatrists, but who “diagnose” the defendant as having a narcissistic personality disorder?
  • In what court is justice served when Eva Ernston, who is paid by the state of Sweden to “represent” Domenic’s interests in court, publicly and indiscriminately boasts to friends and strangers alike, that “Domenic is better off without his weird father”? So much for keeping secret the reason Gotland Social Services has destroyed a family. According to Ernston, it is because Christer Johansson is, in her own words, “weird.”
  • In what court is justice served when Domenic’s foster mother tells little Domenic that he will stay with her regardless of what the judge decides, essentially telling the little boy she will break the law, if she has to, to keep him with her?
  • In what court is justice served when this same foster mother tells child welfare workers what she told Domenic: that she will not give him back to his parents no matter what the court decides; and upon hearing this declaration, rather than reprimand, correct or otherwise protect Domenic from a foster mother untrustworthy enough to break the law rather than relinquish a child not hers to keep in the first place, the child welfare workers put in an official Gotland Social Services document, word for word what the foster mother told Domenic, then send this document to the Johanssons to further demoralize them?
Folks, the only courts in which I am aware such perverted justice is practiced is in the kangaroo courts of the Swedish LVU system. And of what crime are the Johanssons guilty? Surely, for so much trouble and distress, they must have beat or otherwise abused or neglected their son and surely all of this abuse and neglect has been documented in the three court cases the LVU system has already entertained on behalf of the Johanssons….
In fact, no.  There is no such case.
Instead, in court documents the Johanssons are accused of home schooling their son at a time when home schooling was still a legal option in Sweden. It is for this reason alone Gotland Social Services employed armed police to charge onto an airplane, upon which this family were passengers on the last leg of their journey back to India, where Christer and Annie were married and where Annie had always lived until a few months prior to Domenic’s birth.
After Gotland Social Services abducted the boy from the plane, they conducted a fishing expedition hoping to find more cause to keep Domenic. Their findings? Incomplete vaccinations (parents have the right to delay or deny vaccinations in Sweden) and a cavity in one of Domenic’s baby teeth. It was at this point that Domenic should have been immediately returned to his parents.
Not so, however. As is customary in many LVU cases in Sweden, it was time to pull out all the stops rather than admit Gotland Social Services acted erroneously on Domenic Johansson’s behalf. Parental character assassination is always the remaining weapon in the working toolbox of Gotland Social Services and apparently it is also their deadliest. The first accusations against the Johanssons is that Christer Johansson is a narcissist. This is not an official diagnosis. It is simply the opinion of the social workers. Even so, if narcissism is reason enough to destroy a parent/child relationship, I can think of hundreds of Hollywood celebrities whose children should be removed immediately. Next, he is accused of being overly obsessed with health, health foods and healthy living. Apparently health gurus should have their children forcibly removed as well? Next is the accusation that Christer Johansson is obsessed with human rights. After what his family has been through, who wouldn’t be? Even so, as Eva Ernston has so aptly deduced from all of Gotland Social Service’s findings, Christer Johansson is obviously “weird,” thus Domenic is much “better off without his weird father!”
Looking at Annie, who is a very soft spoken, loving, kind and gentle person, Gotland Social services found it more difficult to assassinate her character. Therefore, rather than attack her directly, they simply suggest to the court that Annie lives in the shadow of her husband. Yes, this is Annie’s crime. This is why Annie had her then 7 year old son ripped from her loving arms.
While all of these character “flaws” are enumerated in court records against the Johanssons, even more concerning is what is missing from court records. The court records fail to mention Christer’s accomplishments in music and the visual arts. They also fail to mention the very close and loving relationship Domenic and Christer enjoyed before Gotland Social Services disrupted it. They fail to mention how Christer was nurturing a love for animals and nature in Domenic. They fail to mention how Christer was passing on to his son a passion for capturing the beauty of the Swedish landscape in photographs, teaching him the art as they went on photo shooting expeditions, sharing these experiences side-by-side. 

As for Annie, the court records fail to mention the fact that Annie holds a Master’s Degree in English, and that Domenic was fluent in both Swedish and English on the day he was taken. Ironically, Annie is more qualified to educate Domenic than the average Swedish classroom teacher. However, the court record fails to mention such things.

And so we ask, what can we expect from yet another court hearing within Sweden’s LVU walls of justice? Can we expect more of the same or will truth and justice finally be served in the now notorious case regarding the custody of Domenic Johansson? Will the Johanssons be allowed to bring in the defense attorney of their choosing? Will the judge act independent of the child welfare workers, allowing the Johanssons to have their entire and complete defense heard and fairly weighed?
PLEASE CONSIDER HELPING:
As this next court date fast approaches, please consider donating to the Johanssons. A donation button is located at the upper right of the Friends blog. If you decide you’d like to donate and you do not read Swedish, there is a little drop-down menu on the upper right of the Paypal page (where you go after pressing the yellow Donate button) that gives you the option to translate the page to the language of your choice. Thank you for you support!
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Johansson, Sweden: Judges blow off separated family’s plea for justice

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Christer and Domenic Johansson

Johansson, Sweden: Judges blow off

separated family’s plea for justice

Judges at the European Court of Human Rights for more than six months have ignored a separated Swedish family’s plea for justice and reunification, and advocates for Christer and Annie Johansson say now it’s time for the citizens of the world to demand action.

“It is quite concerning that this court has not responded to the pleadings filed – it has been rumored that there may be a court official who is hostile to anti-Sweden applications,” said Michael Donnelly of the Home School Legal Defense Association, which is working on the case.

“Our hope is that anumberof letters inquiring about the case from the public will get the needed attention on the case,” he said.

“You’ve Decided to Homeschool, Now What?”

His organization is working with the Alliance Defense Fund on an appeal to the court.

The case developed in mid-2009 when social services and police forcibly took custody of their son, Domenic, then 7, over government concerns he was being homeschooled. The local courts later denied the parents the legal representation they sought, demanding instead they be represented by a government-approved attorney. The courts ultimately ruled the state must keep custody of Domenic.

Ruby Harrold-Claesson, the president of the Nordic Committee for Human Rights, had been working on the family’s case but was ordered off by the court in favor of a locally appointed representative the family opposed. However, she has kept up on the case.

“I am absolutely astonished that they haven’t replied to any of the applications that [ADF attorney] Roger [Kiska] filed for Christer and family and sent him a case [number]. They haven’t replied to my fax letter of September 29, in which I inquired about the application,” she said in a statement to the HSLDA.

Donnelly noted that the ECHR case is separate from the “increasingly tragic events” surrounding the family.

But he said the case at the level of the regional court could be used to send a message about family rights.

“A judgment from the ECHR could order Sweden to pay damages and could be taken to European institutions such as the Council of Ministers to seek enforcement,” he said. “The sad truth is that there is noreparationthat could ever make up forthe damagedone to this family by Swedish authorities. Domenic and his parents continue to live a nightmare and will be scarred by this experience for life. It is the kind of experience that is difficult to ever recover from.”

He continued, “Mr. Johansson has told me that he hopes his case may show the world what kinds of things can happen in Sweden, a country that, he suggests, is looked to by too many as a role model. His suffering is very deep however as he is held without bail waiting the outcome of his trial. Please keep this family in your thoughts and prayers and take action to encourage authorities involved in the case to take action that will help this family overcome these heartbreaking difficulties.”

The “nightmare” to which Donnelly referred was the continuing demands by government officials in Sweden to keep the parents and son apart.

It was just weeks ago that authorities jailed the father and ordered him to remain behind bars for taking his son hojme, following a state-supervised “visit,” to see other members of his family.

Reports have confirmed that authorities have ordered unspecified psychological studies or evaluations for Christer, pending his trial on charges of interfering with the state custody of his son.

Details have remained sketchy about the local court hearing, held justbeforeChristmas, in the Gotland, Sweden, case. But a Swedish broadcast station website reported that Johansson is accused of kidnapping or unlawful detention for the Thanksgiving week incident in which he took his son, now 9, with him following a social services-supervised visit.

The government took custody of Domenic in mid-2009 when police officers stormed a jetliner which the family had boarded en route to a move to India, the home country for Domenic’s mother, Annie Johansson.

The HSLDA said now is the time for people to become involved in protecting the family’s rights.

Read more: Judges blow off separated family’s plea for justice

For letters to write and addresses to send them to: Judges blow off separated family’s plea for justice

Please ACT now to help the Johanssons, it only takes few minutes to copy and paste the recommended letter into a Word document to then print, sign and post off to Sweden. It costs NZ$2.40 to send an email letter from New Zealand to Sweden. For more information: Judges blow off separated family’s plea for justice

Christer Johansson has less rights than thieves, rapists and murderers

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Christer Johansson has less rights than

thieves, rapists and murderers
Domenic and Dad, a close, loving relationship.

On Monday, November 22, 2010, a distraught Christer Johansson left a social services state supervised visit, taking his only child, Domenic, with him. Johansson did not have permission to take his son home, but did so in response to 18 months of pleas by Domenic to be allowed to go home to the family he loves and misses. After calling authorities on Wednesday, November 24th to turn himself in, Johansson now sits in a Visby, Sweden jail cell. All of the citizens of the Swedish island of Gotland have been breathing a sigh of relief ever since Johasson’s incarceration. And rightly so! The lives of Gotland’s citizens are much safer now that this loving, caring, gentle and sensitive father and husband is safely locked behind bars.

Today, December 20, 2010, Christer Johansson was brought before a Swedish judge to face trial for his crimes against Sweden. While we do not yet know the outcome of this “trial” what we do know in leading up to today’s legal circus is that Christer Johansson has less rights than Swedish thieves, rapists and murderers.

Since November 24th, the behind-the-scenes legal battle has focused on securing the best possible defense for Johansson, who has requested representation by Trygve Emstedt, Gävle, a lawyer with 30 years experience specializing in human rights. Incorporated into Sweden’s constitution in January 1995, the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR), under Article 6, guarantees every Swedish citizen the right to choose their own representative and the right to a fair trial as provided within the foundation of a legally secure process.
Father and son, a strong, loving bond.

In direct defiance of Swedish and European Union laws, Gotland City Courts have refused Johansson’s guaranteed rights by rejecting his appeal for of a defense by Emstedt and has instead continues to maintain Shantu Brahmbhatt as his public defender.  Apparently, everyone in Sweden enjoys the guarantee of ECHR Article 6 except Christer Johansson.

There two very good reasons why Johansson has rejected Brahmbhatt as his counsel. First, having only recently been accepted to the bar in June 2010, Brahmbhatt has only negligible and even questionable experience before the court. Naturally, Johnasson desires, and is guaranteed, to exercise his right to obtain the best defense available while he defends his right to liberty.

Secondly, Johansson is only too aware of Brahmbhatt’s inept legal counsel, for it is Brahmbhatt who was appointed by Gotland City Courts to defend Annie Johansson’s rights as Domenic’s mother. All who have been following the Johansson case since 2009 realize Brahmbhatt, as Annie Johansson’s defender, has done little more than appear before Gotland’s courts and has simply followed the edicts of Gotland Social Services. To date, Brahmabhatt has never forged an independent defense of Annie Johansson’s rights, therefore it is not to be expected that she would forge an independent defense of Christer Johansson before the Gotland bench today. Earlier this year, Annie Johansson appealed to the courts to have Brahmabhatt removed as her public defender. Her appeal was met with a thumbing by the Swedish courts, as well.

In addition to fact that Article 6 of the ECHR, ratified in Sweden’s constitution, guarantees Christer Johansson the choice of legal representation, the aforementioned reasons should have been enough for Gotland City Courts to grant Johansson new legal counsel. However, as we’ve witnessed since June 25, 2009, when armed police swarmed an India bound jet just before it taxied the runway at Sweden’s Stockholm-Arlanda Airport removing then 7 year-old Domenic without a warrant and without ever charging Christer and Annie Johansson with a crime, Sweden’s courts, especially those on Gotland Island, seem to operate under their own laws of justice, ignoring the rights of this family under Sweden’s constitution and the ECHR.

Below is translated text from a story out of Sweden regarding Christer’s trail today


Dad on trial for kidnapping
I only wanted to see my son. That’s how the man in his 40’s explained it who was today on trial for illegally having abducted his son placed into foster care.

It was last November, when the man was meant to have had a supervised meeting with his son, that he pulled his son into his car and drove away. For a couple of days he kept his son with him before the police could arrest him.

Today the main proceedings took place at Gotland district court. The prosecution against the man was charged as kidnapping, or possibly illegal deprivation of liberty.

The man explained his actions with having to see his son, but he doesn’t feel he’s committed any crime.

The court considers it proven that he’s committed the acts he’s been indicted for, but before a sentence and sanction is delivered, he’s to go through a major investigation by forensic psychiatry.

Hence the main proceedings won’t end for another four weeks. Until then the man remains in jail.

********************
In another news account from Sweden, we’ve learned that Domenic gave a video testimony regarding the time he spent with his father and family after Christer took him home for a few days. According to the news account, Domenic told the court that when his father took him, he was scared at first but then he thought it was really great to be with his father and other relatives. He described his time away from state care as an adventure and had nothing negative to say about the experience.

This story can be found here:
http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=94&artikel=4250998

For more information go to:  http://friendsofdomenic.blogspot.com