Kingdom of Sweden
Head of state: King Carl XVI Gustaf
Head of government: Goran Persson
Capital: Stockholm
Population: 8.9 million
Official language: Swedish
Death penalty: abolitionist for all crimes
Osmo Vallo
Various inquiries into the death in police custody of Osmo Vallo in 1995 had still not resulted in clarification of the full circumstances.
Osmo Vallo died in May 1995 after police officers reportedly kicked him, allowed a police dog to bite him repeatedly, and stamped on his back as he lay handcuffed on the ground. Although he sustained 39 injuries to his body, forensic pathologists had not been able to agree on a cause of death. The findings of the third post-mortem examination, which stated that the use of violence by the police contributed to Osmo Vallo's death, had been sent for comment to the Legal Council of the National Board of Health and Welfare in 1998. On the basis of the Legal Council's assessment, the prosecutor in charge of the case decided to close the case in May. However, the Prosecutor General announced he was reviewing this decision. No decision had been reached by the end of the year.
AI continued to be concerned that responsibility for Osmo Vallo's death had not been determined by a court and about the integrity of most of the investigations into this death.
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