The whole thing is said to have been triggered by a so-called “rap battle” at the boarding school on the evening of January 18th.
Some of the younger students would rap against each other – which, however, degenerated into jokes about Hitler and prostitution, among other things, directed at other, older students.
A few hours later, several masked students suddenly forced their way into two bedrooms in one of the dormitories and assaulted their classmates with punches, kicks, and a belt.
Five male students aged 17-18 have been charged with assault and aggravated domestic violence, among other things. Four of them have now been sentenced to youth service, while one has been acquitted by Värmland District Court.
One of the students was also convicted of a previous, similar crime in the fall of 2024. He was also convicted of unlawful invasion of privacy, after distributing a film of the assault.
Criticism after supervision
The district court does not agree that the events, as the defense attorneys have claimed, are not criminal due to the prevailing culture at the boarding school.
"To acquit on the grounds that the defense claims, it is required that there is a societal interest in the act being permitted. It is not in society's interest to protect violent traditions and customs at school," says Councilor Carolina Andersson in the press release.
At the same time, the school's traditions have been criticized by the Swedish School Inspectorate, which conducted an inspection of Lundsberg this spring. In its decision, which includes several demands for action, the inspectorate mentions, among other things, "an environment and jargon with offensive elements that seem to have become normalized in the student dormitories."
“Strengthen adult presence”
Lars Jonsson, principal and operations manager at the school, admits that there have been traditions that violate the school's core values.
"It's about older students taking on an informal leadership role over younger students. It's not compatible with our values and not with how a modern boarding school should function," he says in a written comment to TT.
The events in January have therefore led to extensive work to modernize the environment at the boarding school.
"We see that we should have worked more systematically with the core values work and we are doing so now, significantly more vigorously," says Lars Jonsson.
“The most important thing is that adults lead all activities. That is why we have strengthened the adult presence in the dormitories and recruited more dormitory managers,” he says.
