Sweden truck attacker convicted of murder, gets life term

JAN M. OLSEN
INTERNATIONAL.- An Uzbek man who drove a stolen truck into a crowd in Stockholm, killing five people and wounding 14 others, was convicted Thursday of terror-related murder and given a life sentence. Rakmat Akilov had said he wanted to punish Sweden for joining a coalition against the Islamic State group.

In January, he was charged with terrorrelated murder and attempted murder for the attack with a beer truck on April 7, 2017. Those killed were a British man, a Belgian woman and three Swedes, including an 11-year-old girl. Judge Ragnar Palmkvist said Akilov, 40, was the only suspect in the attack.

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Prosecutor Hans Ihrman called him a “security risk to society” during his trial at the Stockholm District Court. Ihrman said he was satisfied with the ruling. Akilov’s defense lawyer, Johan Eriksson, said he had talked with his client who was “disappointed” by the decision.

Eriksson said Akilov didn’t immediately decide whether to appeal and needed to read the 145-page verdict thoroughly first. The prosecution had demanded a life sentence while Eriksson said his client had been cooperative throughout the investigation and should be given a lesser sentence.

Palmkvist said the fact that Akilov had been cooperative and had confessed didn’t have any influence on the life sentence, which is the heaviest penalty in Sweden and is normally about 18 years.