Life Deluxe (74 page)
Authors: Jens Lapidus
Then he heard her voice.
“Hi, this is Sara.”
“Hey, my name’s Jorge. Last time we met was at Arlanda, I don’t know if you remember me.”
For some reason he had butterflies in his stomach. Not in the usual, bad way. This was different.
“ ’Course I do. I was just thinking about you. Where in the world are you?”
“I don’t know yet. You?”
“Indonesia. Why don’t you come here?”
“That’d be sweet. I’m just waiting to hear about a thing. A real important thing I gotta know first.”
* * *
STOCKHOLM’S DISTRICT COURT
VERDICT CASE NUMBER 931-11
Unit 55
PARTIES
Prosecutor
Chief Prosecutor Birgitta Söderström
City Prosecutor’s Office of Stockholm
Plaintiff
Security Guard Suleyman Basak
Gröndalsvägen 172
117 69 Stockholm
Security Guard Peter Lindström
Pilbågsvägen 3
184 60 Åkersberga
Security Guard Johan Carlén
Backluravägen 29C
149 43 Nynäshamn
Taxi Driver Pabli Gomez
Bredängsvägen 200
127 32 Skärholmen
Police Officer Olof Johansson
Tätorpsvägen 54
128 31 Skarpnäck
Defendant (number of defendants: 6)
Jorge Salinas Barrio
The Kronoberg Jail
EXPLANATION OF VERDICT (A SELECTION)
Regarding Jorge Salinas Barrio, the prosecutor has relied on circumstantial evidence. Above all, that Jorge Salinas Barrio is a close friend of several of the co-defendants, that he left Sweden after the robbery, and the fact that a certain receipt was found in his apartment. The prosecutor has also relied on testimony from the witness Viktor (confidential).
First of all, the District Court notes that the circumstance that Jorge Salinas Barrio is a close friend of several of the co-defendants is not in and of itself a circumstance with particularly high probative value with regard to his involvement in the Tomteboda robbery in any of the ways which the prosecutor has claimed.
The fact that he left Sweden shortly after the robbery took place is of course a circumstance that may suggest that he wanted to flee the country because he had partaken in the robbery. However, no certain conclusion can be drawn that this is in fact the case. Therefore, this circumstance also does not have significant probative value.
The piece of evidence that is of most interest is the receipt from the ICA grocery store in the Sollentuna Mall for thirty rolls of aluminum foil that was found in Jorge Salinas Barrio’s
apartment along with DNA traces that were found in the burned-out Range Rover, which was used to force open the gates at Tomteboda at the time of the robbery. Fingerprints from Babak Behrang and Sergio Salinas Morena were found in the same vehicle.
To begin with, the District Court wishes to remind the jury of the evidentiary standard in a criminal case. In order to be able to convict a defendant, the prosecutor must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the events took place in the way that the prosecution claims in its indictment. The duty of satisfying the requisite standard of proof rests solely with the prosecutor.
The fact that a receipt for aluminum foil was found in Jorge Salinas Barrio’s home is very troubling for him. He has told the District Court that he thinks the receipt ended up at his apartment when a friend, whom he does not want to name, was at his house for a party. Fingerprints have been found on the receipt, but they do not match Jorge Salinas Barrio’s fingerprints. It should be added that, according to the prosecutor, Jorge Salinas Barrio is also a close friend of several of the co-defendants. Even though Jorge Salinas Barrio’s explanation may appear to have been invented after the fact, primarily because he does not wish to disclose his friend’s name, the District Court cannot rule out this alternate theory of what happened.
The same conclusion applies regarding the DNA traces from him that were found in the Range Rover. Jorge Salinas Barrio has confirmed that he is close friends with, among others, Babak Behrang, and that he borrowed his car for his café business. This is also supported by a number of witness testimonies. The District Court cannot rule out that the events unfolded in the manner he claims.
The District Court now moves on to evaluate the witness, Viktor. The witness gave, in the District Court, a completely different testimony than the statement he gave during the police interrogation, to which the prosecutor has referred. During the police interrogation, he said, among other things, that he was involved during an early stage of the planning of the robbery, and that Jorge Salinas Barrio was the one in charge of the robbers. The prosecutor has requested that this testimony be used, rather than his later testimony that was made under oath in court. The reason is that Viktor may have been subjected to external pressures, in the form of threats or force, to recant his testimony. However, the prosecutor has not been able to establish who could have threatened or forced Viktor to change
his testimony in court. No other evidence has been provided to support the prosecutor’s assertion.
The statements that Viktor gave during the police interrogation and in the District Court are conflicting. They are also, in many respects, impossible to verify. When it comes to the aspects that can be supported, however, parts of both testimonies diverge from the other available evidence.
In view of the above, and in adherence to the strict evidentiary standard applicable in criminal cases, the overall circumstances of the case—even though they are very troublesome for Jorge Salinas Barrio—are not sufficient to support the charges beyond a reasonable doubt.
The charge against Jorge Salinas Barrio for aggravated robbery shall therefore be dismissed. The charges for aggravated assault and attempted aggrevated assault during the mission to free Javier Fernández shall also be dismissed. He shall be convincted only of aggravated assault of the taxi driver Pablo Gomez.
This court holds that the defendant is guilty of aggravated assault of the taxi driver Pablo Gomez, assaulting an officer (Olof Johansson), as well as criminal damage, and shall be sentenced to one year in prison. Including the four months already served in jail, and the option to be released on parole after serving two-thirds of the sentence, Jorge Salinas Barrio will serve a total of four further months in prison.
HOW TO APPEAL, see attachment (DV400)
*
I was sitting on the front step of my bungalow. A pineapple cocktail in hand. A folded
Izvestiya
on the table next to me
.
The ocean was bluer than usual. As though, today, the water were coloring the sky and not the other way around
.
My woman was somewhere, I didn’t know exactly where. She said she was going to visit her sister on the other side of the island. But I followed her once when she said the same thing. She went to see a British man who lives a mile farther down the beach
.
I was starting to get restless. Four months in a row on this island was too much for me. I used to say that I loved boredom, but maybe that was just an excuse to do what I do
.
But now I was forced to wait for the circus over in Sweden to settle down
.
I didn’t want to be in contact with anyone who might connect me to that situation. I didn’t want to be reminded
.
Still, my client’d called me about a month ago
.
We’d never spoken directly before. Only communicated through middlemen. It didn’t bode well
.
His voice sounded relatively calm. A clear Swedish accent
.
He said, “The mission is over now.”
“Of course the mission is over,” I said. “I don’t want to set foot in Sweden again for at least five years.”
“I hope you won’t need to.”
I didn’t want to have this kind of conversation. My assignments were business transactions. There was never any personal spice to them
.
He went on anyway. “For me, personally, it feels finished. I know her now. I know that she’s suffered in the same way that I’ve suffered.”
I took a sip of my drink. “Was there anything in particular you wanted to say?”
“No, just that it’s over now.”
“But you’ve already said that.”
“They murdered my sister eight years ago. You took care of the one who was responsible for that in the explosion. And his daughter took care of the other responsible party. And she will always sleep as poorly as I do.”
“You’re right. There’s been enough killing. No more killing will be necessary. Now you never have to think about this ever again.”
The man on the other end of the line seemed absorbed in thought
.
I said, “It’s over now. You can move on now.”
“Maybe.”
“I promise. It’s over.”
We ended the conversation
.
I finished my drink
.
Stood up, brought the newspaper with me, and went into the bungalow
.
It was too hot outside
.
Jens Lapidus is a criminal defense lawyer who represents some of Sweden’s most notorious underworld criminals. He lives in Stockholm with his wife.
Astri von Arbin Ahlander is a writer and translator from Stockholm. She cofounded the interview project The Days of Yore (
www.thedaysofyore.com
) and is the managing director of the literary agency Ahlander Agency. She previously translated the first two books in the Stockholm Noir Trilogy,
Easy Money
and
Never Fuck Up
.
