Mats Dagerlind, publisher of Samnytt, is convicted of libel and gross defamation after publishing information about the association Näthatsgranskaren (The online hate inspector). Dagerlind was sentenced to one month in prison and 20,000 SEK in damages.
Samnytt published articles about a prominent individual within the now-defunct organization, which made its name by fighting and reporting alleged hate crimes online – often social media posts written by older people. Samnytt’s articles allegedly described the person as a “disgusting human being”, Bonnier-owned newspaper Sydsvenskan reports.
The indictment contained 13 charges, two of which were considered defamation and one gross defamation, according to the Stockholm District Court. The remaining ten charges were not considered defamatory. Dagerlind denies the charges and says the articles were motivated by publicity.
– This is a bizarre verdict, says Kenth Ekeroth, founder of Samnytt, in an interview with the Sweden Democrats’ media channel Riks. This is an attack on Swedish press freedom, an attack on the Swedish media.
Dagerlind was also convicted in 2022 of gross defamation after calling a journalist at Bonnier-owned newspaper Dagens Nyheter a “suspected jihadist”.
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