Proof requirements for asset freezing

The plan rejects special terrorism legislation, guards the rule of law's fundamental principles and highlights that people should be presumed innocent until proved otherwise. A higher burden of proof when freezing assets is precisely what reduces the risk that innocent people are affected and that groups are stigmatised, which the plan also warns against in its anti-racist line. The plan thus speaks directly to the question of what burden of proof is acceptable.

• rejects special terrorism legislationdecisive»avvisar en särskild terroristlagstiftning« (party programme ↗)“rejects special terrorism legislation”
• presumption of innocence»anses oskyldiga tills motsatsen är bevisad« (party programme ↗)“presumed innocent until proved otherwise”
• rule of law principles»personliga integriteten och fundamentala principer i en rättsstat« (party programme ↗)“personal integrity and fundamental principles of a rule of law”
• counteract racialised stigmatisation»Många unga, särskilt med utländsk bakgrund, som bor i fattiga områden, utsätts även för rasism och övervåld från polisen« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Many young people, particularly with foreign background, living in poor areas, are also subjected to racism and police brutality”

The plan's decisive commitment is to come down hard on organized crime's financing and to give police more tools in an uncompromising fight against crime. An elevated standard of proof to probable cause would make asset freezing more difficult and thus counteract this. The party programme's anti-racist stance and privacy protection constitute a counterweight that argues for the application to be legally sound, but does not break the plan's main line.

• strike at organized crime's financingdecisive»Slå hårt mot den organiserade brottslighetens finansiering och organisation.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Come down hard on the financing and organization of organized crime.”
• more tools for police»Polisen behöver också fler verktyg, som bättre möjligheter till avlyssning och husrannsakan.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Police also need more tools, such as better possibilities for wiretapping and house search.”
• uncompromising crime-fighting»Kampen mot kriminaliteten ska vara kompromisslös.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“The fight against crime must be uncompromising.”
• anti-racism as counterweight»Socialdemokraterna är ett antirasistiskt parti« (party programme ↗)“Social democrats are an anti-racist party”

The plan opposes laws that entail disproportionate interventions and establishes that legal security shall be secured while authorities get tools against crime. It also requires that structural discrimination and racism cease, which addresses the risk that sanctions are directed at certain groups. A higher standard of proof for asset freezing thus follows from the plan's proportionality requirements.

• against disproportionate interventionsdecisive»alla lagar som innebär oproportionerliga ingrepp i« (party programme ↗)“all laws that entail disproportionate interventions in”
• legal security in coercive measures»Rättssäkerheten ska tryggas samtidigt som de« (party programme ↗)“Legal security shall be secured at the same time as the”
• against structural discrimination»Strukturell diskriminering och rasism ska upphöra.« (party programme ↗)“Structural discrimination and racism shall cease.”

The plan takes no explicit position on what the committee actually decided — often because the committee's reason was procedural. The stance is derived and fully cited, but it does not show the party broke a commitment.

The plan explicitly says no to rule-of-law shortcuts such as collective punishment and reversed burden of proof and establishes that individuals' rights against the state must be defended. It also requires proportionality between a law's intrusion into integrity and its purpose, which speaks for a higher standard of evidence when assets are frozen for a broad field of application. The plan's requirement that property rights and the prohibition against discrimination shall be strengthened points in the same direction.

• no to hollowed-out rule of lawdecisive»Rättsstaten och individens rättigheter gentemot staten måste försvaras. Vi säger därför nej till visitationszoner, kollektiv bestraffning, omvänd bevisbörda, anonyma vittnen, preventiv avlyssning och inskränkningar av religionsfriheten.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“The rule of law and individuals' rights against the state must be defended. We therefore say no to search zones, collective punishment, reversed burden of proof, anonymous witnesses, preventive wiretapping and restrictions on freedom of religion.”
• proportionality requirement»Det måste finnas en proportionalitet mellan lagstiftningens inskränkning av medborgarnas integritet och lagarnas syfte.« (party programme ↗)“There must be proportionality between legislation's restriction of citizens' integrity and laws' purpose.”
• strengthened property rights and protection against discrimination»Vi vill stärka bland annat äganderätten, diskrimineringsförbudet, minoritetsskyddet och minoritetsspråkens ställning« (2022 manifesto ↗)“We want to strengthen among other things property rights, the prohibition against discrimination, minority protection and the status of minority languages”
• combat ethnic profiling»Diskriminering, strukturell rasism och intolerans, i alla dess former, ska motverkas.« (party programme ↗)“Discrimination, structural racism and intolerance, in all its forms, shall be combated.”

The plan takes no explicit position on what the committee actually decided — often because the committee's reason was procedural. The stance is derived and fully cited, but it does not show the party broke a commitment.

The election manifesto explicitly wants to be able to use secret coercive measures against organised gang members even without concrete criminal suspicion and strengthen the fight against international crime and terrorism, including hidden extremist financing. Raising the evidence requirement from reasonable suspicion to probable cause would go in the opposite direction and limit the opportunity to freeze assets. The party programme's requirements for protection of the individual's dignity and integrity qualify the assessment but do not outweigh the plan's line on effective tools.

• lower thresholds for coercive measuresdecisive»Avlyssning och andra hemliga tvångsmedel ska kunna användas både vid misstanke om fler brott än i dag och efter domstolsbeslut mot organiserade gängmedlemmar även utan konkret brottsmisstanke.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Interception and other secret coercive measures shall be able to be used both in suspicion of more crimes than today and after court order against organised gang members even without concrete criminal suspicion.”
• stop extremist financing»Vi vill både stärka uppföljningen av bidragsgivning och stoppa dold finansiering av trossamfund så att de inte blir verktyg för extremistiska krafter.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“We want both to strengthen follow-up of grant allocation and stop hidden financing of faith communities so that they do not become tools for extremist forces.”
• international terrorism fighting»Sverige ska delta fullt ut i EU:s brottsbekämpning och den europeiska polismyndigheten Europol ska ges ett tydligare operativt mandat att bekämpa internationell brottslighet och terrorism.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Sweden shall participate fully in the EU's crime fighting and the European police authority Europol shall be given a clearer operative mandate to fight international crime and terrorism.”
• protection of individuals' integrity»Den enskildes värdighet och integritet får inte kränkas.« (party programme ↗)“The individual's dignity and integrity shall not be violated.”

Worldstate weighed in: Raised threat picture against Sweden and two Swedes killed in Brussels — Strengthens the plan's requirement for effective measures against terrorist financing

The plan wants to target criminals' assets and status symbols and describes the situation as extreme, which argues against raising the burden of proof and thereby making freezing more difficult. That the right to property and independent judiciary shall be valued is a counterweight that speaks for legally secure proceedings, but the plan's emphasis is on effective tools against gang criminality. The plan also requires that no one is treated unfairly.

• targeting criminals' assetsdecisive»Beslagta kriminellas statussymboler och bekämpa på så sätt negativa förebilder som rekryterar unga in i gängkriminalitet.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Seize criminals' status symbols and thus combat negative role models that recruit young people into gang criminality.”
• extremely serious situation»Sverige befinner sig i en extrem situation.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Sweden is in an extreme situation.”
• property right as human right»Rätten till egendom är en mänsklig rättighet och« (party programme ↗)“The right to property is a human right and”
• legally secure proceedings»en fri och oberoende rättskipning ger trygghet för personlig integritet och egendom« (party programme ↗)“a free and independent judiciary provides security for personal integrity and property”

The plan wants to lower, not raise, the threshold for seizing criminals' assets and goes as far as reversed burden of proof for seizure. A raised standard of proof to probable cause for freezing assets goes directly against this commitment. The party programme's demands for equal treatment and predictability in the exercise of power qualify but do not overturn that line.

• lower standard of proof against criminal assetsdecisive»Ta gängens pengar och införa en omvänd bevisbörda för att kunna beslagta gängmedlemmarnas lyxprylar« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Take gang money and introduce reversed burden of proof to be able to seize gang members' luxury items”
• cut off extremists' money»Stoppa utbetalningar av skattemedel till extremister« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Stop payments of tax funds to extremists”
• stronger security police»Stärka Säkerhetspolisen för att öka deras förmåga att skydda den liberala demokratin och landets alla medborgare« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Strengthen the Security Police to increase their capacity to protect liberal democracy and the country's all citizens”
• equal treatment in the exercise of power»principer om likabehandling och förutsebarhet« (party programme ↗)“principles of equal treatment and predictability”

The plan demands far-reaching opportunities to seize assets even among circles around criminals and severe measures against terrorism financing and security threats. The counter-proposal instead wants to raise the standard of proof to probable cause and thereby narrow the opportunity to freeze assets. That goes against the plan's stated position that few measures are too far-reaching when criminal and extremist environments are to be pushed back.

• broad asset seizuredecisive»långtgående möjligheter att beslagta tillgångar i kretsen kring kriminella« (2022 manifesto ↗)“far-reaching opportunities to seize assets among circles around criminals”
• stop terrorism financing»Hindra utländsk finansiering av extremistiska trossamfund och organisationer« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Prevent foreign financing of extremist religious communities and organisations”
• ban on involvement»Förbjuda deltagande i, och samröre med, terrororganisationer.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Prohibit participation in, and involvement with, terrorist organisations.”
• few measures too far-reaching»Sverigedemokraterna anser att få politiska åtgärder är för långtgående när det kommer till att pressa tillbaka både de kriminella gängen och den kultur som gör att de får fäste.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Sweden Democrats believe that few political measures are too far-reaching when it comes to pushing back both criminal gangs and the culture that allows them to gain a foothold.”

Worldstate weighed in: Escalated threat to Sweden after two Swedes were killed in Brussels — Strengthens the plan's demands for powerful tools against terrorism financing