Henrik Landerholm is being questioned on Monday at Attunda District Court in Sollentuna.
The questioning begins with him being allowed to freely tell how it happened when he left documents at a conference center in March 2023.
It was unfortunate and inappropriate, he says about the incident.
Now it remains to be decided whether it is criminal. My stance on that issue is already known, says Landerholm, who denies the crime.
He claims that he did not receive any information that the information would be classified as security-protected.
Harm Sweden's security
Henrik Landerholm is being prosecuted for negligence with secret information since it was revealed that he left secret documents in an unlocked cabinet at Gällöfsta conference center in 2023.
The prosecutors believe that Landerholm has been grossly negligent and that the information that has been revealed can cause harm to Sweden's security.
When we say sensitive information, the court will soon understand that the expression does not contain any exaggerations, says prosecutor Per Lindqvist in court.
He emphasizes that the documents have been assessed by both the Government Offices and Säpo and Must.
Everyone has found that the information is secret, and that if the information were to be revealed to a foreign power, it would mean harm to the country's security, says Lindqvist.
A large part of the trial is being held behind closed doors, including the questioning of Landerholm. This after the prosecutor has requested it and the court has followed that line.
”Great pressure”
Landerholm risks fines or imprisonment for up to one year.
He admits, however, that he left the documents, but that does not mean that he was grossly negligent, says his lawyer Johan Eriksson.
The defense does not believe that the documents are "revealed", nor that the information has risked harming Sweden's security.
Eriksson emphasizes that Landerholm in his role as security adviser has been under great pressure and that he has often worked alone and, for example, has not had a secretary.
Landerholm also brings this up in his account.
The time for the three security-related offenses was the most stressful ever in my more than 40-year professional life.
Henrik Landerholm left the post as national security adviser when a criminal investigation against him was initiated in January this year.
He is now being prosecuted suspected of negligence with secret information.
According to the indictment, he "through gross negligence, unauthorizedly revealed" secret information in documents that he left at a conference center outside Stockholm in March 2023.
According to DN, the documents came from a conversation between Landerholm and the US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, right in the middle of Sweden's sensitive NATO process.
Landerholm denies the crime.
