In the spring of 2023, Landerholm, in his role as national security adviser, left secret documents in an unlocked safe at a conference venue outside Stockholm.
However, when the case was heard in Attunda District Court last year, he was acquitted. According to the court, although confidential information had been disclosed, Landerholm had not been grossly negligent, but merely negligent.
The Svea Court of Appeal has now sided with the prosecutor.
“Grossly negligent”
“The only reasonable explanation for the man leaving the documents behind is that he was grossly negligent when emptying the safe in which he kept them,” says Court of Appeal Justice Håkan Sellman in a press release.
“Taking into account, among other things, his position as national security adviser and his long experience in senior government roles - which, according to him, has given him extensive experience in handling secret information - the Court of Appeal believes that he was grossly negligent.”
Landerholm has been sentenced to 80 daily fines of SEK 650 each, a total of SEK 52,000.
“Today’s conviction in the Svea Court of Appeal is of course disappointing. Together with my lawyer, I will now analyze the verdict to determine our position on the next steps in the process,” he writes on X.
“We are of course not happy that the Court of Appeal changed the verdict. There was much to suggest that it would go the same way as in the district court,” Landerholm’s lawyer Johan Eriksson tells TT.
Handpicked for the job
Chief Prosecutor Per Lindqvist is satisfied with the Court of Appeal’s assessment.
“It is a well-written ruling and one that sends a signal to all men and women who handle this type of task. The bar remains high; you have to be very careful and cautious,” he says.
Henrik Landerholm has been a longtime friend of Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson (M) and was handpicked for the position of security adviser when the role was established after the 2022 election.
He left the post in January 2025, after a preliminary investigation into him had been opened.
In addition to leaving the documents at the conference venue, Landerholm has also forgotten a notebook at Swedish Radio and his mobile phone at the Hungarian embassy.
Social Democrat and former Defence Minister Peter Hultqvist believes the verdict raises issues that now need further investigation.
“Now it is clear that the man has been convicted and that a violation of the law has occurred. Then we have to go further and connect it with what the Prime Minister knew,” says Hultqvist.
I believe that after this, Landerholm is unsuitable for various senior positions with responsibility in the Swedish state.
