The death of Riccardo Campogiani

1. Key facts of the case

In the evening and night between the 5^th and 6^th of October 2007, a group of teenagers were having a party in Kungsholmen, Stockholm. During the night, quarrels arose between some of the young men who attended the party and a newly arrived crowd of teenagers. One of the young attendees of the party, Riccardo Campogiani, was in connection to the conflict chased down the street by members of the newly arrived crowd and beaten so badly that he passed away a few days later. The three young men were sentenced to three years of institutional juvenile care by the district court for aggravated assault and causing another person’s death. The Court of Appeal later reduced the sentence for the three 16-year-olds from three years to 1 year in institutional juvenile care.

The case received widespread public attention in Sweden and provoked strong reactions. Both the issue of street violence in general as well as the specificities of this case were discussed widely.

2. Applicable law

A person who inflicts bodily injury, illness or pain on another person or renders them helpless or in some other similar state is guilty of assault and is sentenced to imprisonment for at most two years or, if the offence is minor, to a fine or imprisonment for at most six months. If an offence referred to in Section 5 is considered gross, the person is guilty of gross assault and is sentenced to imprisonment for at least one year and six months and at most six years. When assessing whether the offence is gross, particular consideration is given to whether the act was life-threatening or whether the perpetrator inflicted severe bodily injury or serious illness or otherwise displayed particular ruthlessness or brutality.

A person who causes the death of another person through negligence is furthermore guilty of causing the death of another and is sentenced to imprisonment for at most two years. If the offence is gross, the sentence is imprisonment for at least one year and at most six years.

In Sweden, a suspect may however be awarded a penalty only if he or she is above the age of 15. There are furthermore an alternative set of rules governing the penalty is the person is between the age of 15 and 21. For severe crimes, defendants between the age of 15 and 17, are for instance often sentenced to institutional juvenile care instead of prison.

3. Criminal proceedings

In direct connection to the events during the night between the 5^th and 6^th of October^,several young men were taken in for hearings by the police. Three suspects were later arrested. In the following days, the number of suspected young men increase to five. Four of the men were requested detained while the fifth was released from police custody.

The Prosecutor pressed charges on the 20^th of November 2007. Five 16-year-olds were charged with murder respectively assault of Riccardo Campogiani. Four of the five 16-year-olds were charged with murder while the fifth was charged with assault.

3.1. Stockholm District court

The trial, which was held in Stockholm District Court, was furthermore initiated on the 7^th of December 2010. In was decided that the trial would be held the security room due to threats towards the indicted young men and their families. In connection to the trial, a 33-year-old man however threatened one of the four boys by making a pistol-like gesture with his hand that he then aimed at the boy. This act was later determined to constitute an unlawful threat.

The prosecutor heard 14 witnesses during the trial. A key witness was Riccardo Campogianis best friend.

In the verdict, the district court considered it proven that three of the boys kicked Riccardo to death. The three young men convicted by the district court where sentenced to three years in closed juvenile care for aggravated assault and causing another person’s death. One of the young men were acquitted of all charges and the last one was sentenced to 6 months in juvenile care for aiding the assault.

3.2 The Court of Appeal

The verdict was appealed and brought up by the Court of Appeal, where the prosecutor impeded that four of the five 16-year-olds should be sentenced to four years in closed juvenile care for murder.

One of the witnesses, a 16-year-old, who, in detail, had testified how the indicted men assaulted Riccardo Campogiani to death, admitted in the Court of Appeal that he had lied while testifying in the District Court.

One of the suspects defense attorney hypothesized, in his closing argument, that several witnesses may have lied and concluded that it however was to be considered clear that the witnesses had influenced each other. He further claimed that the media may have influenced the witnesses of the trial since no less than 1,452 articles had been written about the case at that point.

In its judgment, however, the Court of Appeal shared the district court’s assessment in the sense that it has been proven that three of the defendants participated in the assault of Riccardo Campogiani. Since it had been established that they jointly hunted and assaulted Riccardo Campogiani, the court considered them to have acted together and in concert. It was furthermore considered irrelevant who it was who had handed out the killing kicks.

The Court of Appeal nonetheless amended the judgment by reducing the sentence for the three 16-year-olds from three years to one year in closed juvenile care for aggravated assault and causing another person’s death.

4. Disclosure of information

Much of the information disseminated regarding the incident, as well as the identities of the suspects, did not derive from governmental agencies in this case, but from private actors.

Before the prosecutor has brought charges, the names as well as other personal information about the suspects and the victims, is usually kept undisclosed. If the prosecutor requests that the court detain a suspect, his or her name usually becomes public. Other information is normally kept nondisclosed at this stage, with regard to the preliminary investigation. At this stage, the identities of the suspects, as well as other information about the case, was however already widely disclosed on the internet.

Information regarding the identities of the suspects, such as their full names and pictures of them, began to spread on blogs and on internet forums as early as one day after the arrests. In conventional media, they are not mentioned by name. Personal information about the suspects, such as their age as well as their socio economic status, is however discussed and disclosed in newspapers at this stage.

Furthermore, when the prosecutor submits the indictment, it becomes a public document along with the preliminary investigation report which the prosecutor attaches. In this case however, information both regarding the identities of suspects as well as the events, had, as stated above, already been widely disseminated in media before the submission of the indictment.

5. Media coverage

5.1 Who to hold responsible for the street violence

In connection to the case of Riccardo Campogiani, the medial debate came to highlight the use of violence among today’s youth, as well the subsequent issue of who to hold responsible for the violence.

In an article in Expressen, the Swedish minister of Justice was asked what responsibility politicians and society have to prevent these types of events, she answered: “When you do someone else harm, you obviously have to take responsibility for it. But when it comes to such young people, it shows how important it is that adults are nearby where young people gather “(När man gör någon annan illa så måste man självklart ta ansvar för det. Men när det gäller så här unga människor, så visar det hur viktigt det är att vuxna finns i närheten där ungdomar samlas).

Riccardo Campogiani’s father also expressed his views on who was to be held responsible by directing parts of his despair and dismay at the politicians. “You cannot remove police from the city and at the same time close plenty of leisure centers. The politicians must wake up and understand this now” ( Man kan inte ta bort poliser från stan och samtidigt stänga massa fritidsgårdar. Nu måste politikerna vakna och förstå).

One person who also appears in the mass medial debate regarding the issue of responsibility is Swedens Crown Princess. When asked why she chose to participate in a memorial service, she replied that “I want to put my mark, of course, against the unnecessary violence. The young people should realize the consequences of the violence” (Jag vill markera, självklart, mot det onödiga våldet. De unga borde inse vilka konsekvenser våldet får).

5.2 The suspects

Shortly after the incident, information about the suspects began to spread in various media channels. In articles in Aftonbladet, the socio-economic background of the suspects, as well as their characters as described by sources, were detailed.

For example, in one article, the author writes that “Here are the boys who are suspected of having murdered Riccardo Campogiani, 16. One of them belongs to one of Sweden’s most wealthy families”(Här är pojkarna som misstänks ha mördat Riccardo Campogiani, 16. En av dem tillhör Sveriges mest förmögna familjer).

The article further contains an interview with a former classmate of the suspects. In the interview, the classmate expresses the following:

“They are cocky guys that you are afraid of (…) He has always bragged about how rich he is. But he has been very messy and needed an assistant at school (…) ”(Det är kaxiga killar som man är rädd för (…). Han har alltid skrutit om hur rik han är. Men han har varit väldigt stökig och behövt en assistent i skolan (…)).

Another article in Aftonbladet it is furthermore written that “[their reporters have] seen pictures that show how two of [the suspects] are sitting with raised champagne glasses in the back seat of a limousine” (Aftonbladet har sett bilder som visar hur två av dem sitter med höjda champagneglas i baksätet av en limousine).

In one article in the newspaper Göreborgsposten, where the setting of event is further described, the socio-economic status of the crowd is once again highlighted. It is written that:

“Many of the guests came from affluent, even wealthy homes and bore well-known surnames… ‘They shone upper class’, a witness would say about the ’very drunk’ girls in designer clothes who had been at the party and whom she met at the subway station since the party ended in tragedy” (Många av gästerna kom från välbärgade, till och med förmögna, hem och bar välkända efternamn…De lyste överklass”, skulle ett vittne komma att säga om de “jättefulla” tjejer i märkeskläder som varit på festen och som hon träffat på tunnelbanestationen sedan festen slutat i tragedi).

The suspects are furthermore mentioned by their prename when the author describes them in the article. For example, the author writes that:

”Among friends, Charlie was once known as “the quiet boy” at school, but also as the big brother type, a caring guy. Though he had changed style lately, from the shy guy to the cocky one. His friends say that he is the kindest in the world when he is sober, but that he becomes aggressive and overbearing when he drinks” (Bland vännerna var Charlie en gång känd som “den tyste pojken” i skolan, men också som storebrorstypen, en omhändertagande kille. Fast han hade ändrat stil på sistone, från den blyge killen till den kaxige. Hans vänner säger att han är världens snällaste när han är nykter, men att han blir aggressiv och dryg när han dricker).

In relation to the perpetrators’ class affiliation and the question of responsibility, it is furthermore uplifted, for example, in an article in Aftonbladet, how their social class may have contributed to Riccardo Campogiani’s death giving rise to widespread media attention as well as why considerable focus was paid to street violence in general. The author of the article compares Riccardo’s case to an earlier case in which a teenager named Markus was beaten to death.

“The young people who have been in custody since last weekend have recognized family names, addresses and contacts. This is not the case of the teenagers who were convicted of causing another person’s death after the assault of Marcus. In connection to Riccardo’s death, we have been called to a national demonstration against violence. In Svenska Dagbladet (11 October), some well-known representatives of Swedish businesses and industry write about everyone’s responsibilities. The tone in the media is subdued and breathes understanding, dialogue, conversation. The journalism about Kungsgatan, on the other hand, boiled down to national anger against the bully, the rawhides, the murderers ” (De ungdomar som sedan förra helgen sitter häktade har fina namn, adresser och kontakter. Det har inte tonåringarna som dömdes för vållande till annans död efter misshandeln av Marcus. I samband med Riccardos död har vi uppmanats till en nationell manifestation mot våldet. I Svenska Dagbladet (11 okt) skriver några namnkunniga företrädare för svenskt näringsliv om allas ansvar. Tonen i medierna är dämpad och andas förståelse, dialog, samtal. Journalistiken om Kungsgatan, däremot, kokade av nationell vrede mot buset, råskinnen, mördarna).

6. Impact on the suspect or accused person and on the general public

6.1 Manifestatipn and facebook groups

As stated above, the case triggered a widespread debate and extensive reactions regarding street violence. On October 11, 2007, nearly 72,000 people had joined the Facebook group “Save us from street violence” (Bevara oss från gatuvåldet). Anton Abele, 15, who started the Facebook group claimed in an interview that the murder of Riccardo Campogiani was a trigger but not the sole cause.

“This is about stopping all street violence and the demonstration is for all victims. Next time, it could affect me or one of my friends” (Det här handlar om att stoppa allt gatuvåld och manifestationen är till för alla offer. Nästa gång kan det drabba mig själv eller någon av mina vänner).

In Stockholm, a large demonstration furthermore took place after the death of Riccardo with the aim of stopping street violence. During the demonstration, TV hosts, police chiefs and the Social Citizens’ Council spoke. A greeting from the Crown Princess was furthermore read out loudly, and Artists performed on stage.

6.1 Exposture and hatered towards the suspects

Another matter addressed in several articles is the reactions that occurred online after the event. As described above, the names of the suspects, as well as pictures of them, were from an early stage in the investigation published on blogs and internet forums. According to the head of the Stockholm Polices youth division, this information was widely available on several online channels.

The suspects, as well as their family members, furthermore received several threats from individuals, i.a. death threats. One of the suspects lived with protected identity as a result of the treats. The trial was furthermore, as mentioned above, held in a security room due to the threats and the subsequent security risks.

Sources

Swedish Criminal Code, Chapter 3, Section 5 & 6

SVT (2008), Hårda domar för Riccardos död (07/01).

Stockholms TR mål nr B 418-08

SVT (2008), Riccardomålet blir offentligt (03/03).

Aftonbladet (2008) Hoträttegång efter Campogiani (16/10) Available at: https://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/a/A2bnPr/hotrattegang-efter-campogiani

Stockholms TR mål nr B 418-08

Public Access to Information and Secrecy Act, Chapter 18, Section 1.

C.f. Expressen (2017), Tio misstänkta gripna – ett år efter gruppvåldtäkt (13/9), Metro (2017), Tio män misstänks för gruppvåldtäkt – Polisbrist försenade gripanden (13/9).

The Freedom of the Press Act Chapter 2 section 3.

Sydsvenskan (2007) Mordmisstänkta pojkarna hängs ut på nätet (08/10).

Cf. Aftonbladet (2008), ”Det är svårt att förstå” (08/10).