source:
http://tundratabloid.blogspot.com/2008/09/tundra-tabloid-exclusive.=
html
The Swedish Migration Board is in court pursuing a claim against an
employee charged with being a Conservative who also wrote favourable
comments on his private website about the US and Israel as pillars of
democracy. The Swedish Migration Board feels that Conservatives and
people who express themselves favourably about these two countries are
not fit to hold a unit management position.
Lennart Eriksson, 52, has worked at the Swedish Migration Board,
G=F6teborg, Sweden in various capacities for more than 20 years. In
October 2007 he was ousted from his job as unit manager. The reasons
are twofold: because he ran a website on the Internet in which he gave
his opinions on various issues, and because he is a Conservative in
his personal political affiliations.
Political views dictated to employees
On his website, which his employers knew about for many years,
Eriksson voiced appreciation of the US and Israel as examples of
thriving democracies. He also praised US general George Patton as a
hero of World War Two. Eriksson has never spent work-time on his
website and he has never used his work computers for this purpose.
Neither do his employers contend that he ever did so.
Lennart Eriksson sued the Swedish Migration Board in M=F6lndal county
court, G=F6teborg. He maintains he has in effect been fired from his job
as asylum *****sment unit manager, camouflaged in the form of a
demotion or transfer. Lennart Eriksson feels that whatever the
terminology, there is no legal or justifiable cause for the move. The
Migration Board confirms that Lennart Eriksson has been transferred as
a result of the opinions he expressed on his private website.
Trial venue and dates
The main hearing will take place on Friday October 10 and Monday
October 13, 2008, starting at 09:00 on both days. The court=92s address
is: M=F6lndals tingsr=E4tt, S=F6dra V=E4gen 25, G=F6teborg, Sweden.
The case is of fundamental im****tance in a country that is nominally a
democracy. The right to freely express opinions on political, cultural
and social issues without risk of reprisal is the very foundation of a
democratic society. The opinions that Lennart Eriks=ADson expresses are
based on a strong democratic foundation whose cornerstone is the
unassailable affirmation of every individual=92s equal human value. In
the political perspective, Lennart Eriksson=92s opinions are
traditionally Conservative.
Political persecution
Political persecution is unfamiliar in a country where generations of
citizens have been told that this sort of thing cannot occur at home.
The Swedish Migration Board fulfils a vital social function.
Protecting human rights and offering asylum to victims of persecution
are among the Board=92s central roles. However, with the Swedish
Migration Board revealing that it will not hesitate to victimise its
own employees for political beliefs that are at odds with those of its
managers, its credibility and the public=92s confidence in its
operations risk irreversible erosion.
On trial: freedom of expression in Sweden
This trial follows hard on the heels of another high-profile case in
which a Swedish intern working at a Swedish embassy abroad was
summarily fired and sent home when his political affiliations were
discovered. That case was taken up by Sweden=92s Chancellor of Justice
who ordered the Foreign Ministry to pay the sacked intern compensation
for wrongful dismissal. The verdict against the embassy was remarkable
for its particularly brusque wording.
That case bore an uncanny resemblance to the situation in which
Lennart Eriksson finds himself: the freedom to have political beliefs
and to express them privately resulting in a state-run institution
terminating an employee=92s tenure.
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