Statement on new remand hearings when additional time has been granted to commence a prosecution and no hearing has been requested

Summary of the decision: According to the third paragraph of Section 18 of Chapter 24 of the Swedish Code of Judicial Procedure (SFS 1942:740), if a prosecution is not instituted within two weeks, the court shall hold a new remand hearing at intervals of not more than two weeks, as long as the suspect is detained and until the prosecution is initiated.

The court may extend the intervals if it is evident that holding hearings within the time mentioned above would serve no purpose. In the case in question, the detention of an individual remanded with restrictions was extended on a couple of occasions, one of which was after a hearing. The prosecutor then requested an extension to the deadline to commence a prosecution on a further ten occasions. The remanded suspect consented to the extensions and did not request a remand hearing on these occasions. The district court therefore adjudicated the prosecutor’s requests to extend the deadline and application for restrictions based solely on the documents. As a result, the court did not hold any remand hearings in the case for six months.

In the opinion of the Chief Parliamentary Ombudsman, the scope for concluding that it was evident that holding hearings would serve no purpose appears to be almost non-existent given the length of time that elapsed in the case in question. This is especially likely to be the case when several different judges have tried requests to extend the deadline to commence a prosecution. Whether requested to or not, the district court ought to have held remand hearings and is criticised for not doing so.

In the experience of the Chief Parliamentary Ombudsman, it is routine procedure at certain district courts to hold remand hearings roughly every three months in cases where an extension to the deadline to commence a prosecution has been granted and no hearing has been requested. In the opinion of the Chief Parliamentary Ombudsman, such a procedure appears to be well-balanced.