Five law-enforcement officers are to pay out more than a thousand euros to the Syrian migrant convicted of seriously wounding one of them during a riot in Sweden. The police involved are shocked by the ruling.

The police officers are being forced to dig into their pockets and pay a total of 12,650 Swedish crowns (1122 euros) to a 45-year-old convicted Syrian man, who was sentenced to two years and seven months in prison for his violent acts during the riots. The police officers are appalled by the decision, the RMX News portal reports.

„It feels like something has gone terribly wrong with the legal system here. We were there during the riots doing our job, and then some police officers are forced to pay people who actually wanted to kill them,”

Aleksandar Jeremic told the Swedish Dagens Nyheter portal. In the civil lawsuit involving the Botkyrka local police precinct, he is one of the five officers who have been ordered to pay the legal costs incurred by the Syrian migrant who attacked them.

The case goes back to the riots in Orebro in 2022, sparked by the burning of the Quran. As is known, Sweden witnessed riots in 2022 and 2023 after activists including Rasmusen Paluden, set fire to Qurans in protest against excessive immigration and Islamisation.

Pemimpin sayap kanan Swedia asal Denmark, Rasmus Paluden, membakar salinan Al-Quran saat demo di depan Kedubes Turki di Stockholm, Swedia, Sabtu (21/1/2023). Kenapa?

Pembahasan selengkapnya, tonton #NarasiPagi, pagi ini, jam 8.00 ya! | Narasi Pagi pic.twitter.com/LBRyzqw9GK

— Narasi Newsroom (@NarasiNewsroom) January 22, 2023

Orebro was the scene of protests lasting several days at Easter in 2022, when migrants attacked police officers, throwing stones at them. Several officers sustained serious injuries requiring emergency medical treatment. One of them was Johan Westberg, who was hospitalised with a severe concussion and hand injuries expected to take years to heal.

SHOCKING VIDEO: Mass riots in #Sweden – #Muslims attack members of the far-right Hard Line movement, who burned the #Quran. Clashes with Police in #Swedish cities of #Linkoping, #Landskrona, #Norrköping & #Örebro. Watch 👇 pic.twitter.com/vzcXJS2i3g

— Daily Intel Brief 📩 (@intelbriefdaily) April 16, 2022

Mr Westberg was one of the police officers who claimed damages after the 45-year-old Syrian was sentenced to prison for „seriously sabotaging the operation of the police”.

The criminal and civil suit were treated as two separate cases. The Syrian was sentenced to more than five years in prison, which was later overturned by the Supreme Court and reduced to two years, seven months. However, the Supreme Court’s decision also wiped out the police officers’ civil case. The judges argued that police officers were not entitled to compensation on the grounds of „serious sabotage of police operations” because it constituted a crime against the state and not against individual officers.

On the basis of this ruling, the law enforcement officers had no chance of winning their case, leading Westberg and the other officers to withdraw their claims for compensation. However, under the Procedural Code, if a plaintiff withdraws a civil suit, legally he is deemed to have lost the case and is obliged to pay the defendant’s legal costs.

That’s where the case stands: forcing the officers seriously injured in the line of duty to pay the Syrians who attacked them.

The presiding judge in the shocking case had only this comment: „I understand that this seems unfair from the officers’ perspective. But there was no mistake, the rules are what they are.”

Counsel for the police officers said they would appeal the ruling.