It was in May 2021 that Falu Municipality placed five-year-old John Walter in an HVB home in Hagfors, Värmland. Just over two weeks later, staff discovered one day that the boy had escaped. He was found a few hours later drowned.
Falu Municipality was acquitted of liability in both the district court and the court of appeal, and in March it became clear that the Supreme Court would not hear the case.
On Wednesday, John Walter's parents, with the help of the Center for Justice, will file a complaint against Sweden with the European Court of Human Rights. They believe that the municipality failed in its decision to place the boy in the HVB home, despite knowing that he was prone to escape and that there were broken fences and gates at the facility.
It is not only a great tragedy, but also a great failure for the Swedish legal system that no one has been held responsible for John Walter's death, says Fredrik Bergman Evans, director of the Center for Justice.
It is difficult to bring a case to the European Court of Human Rights, but we believe that it is so urgent that it deserves a serious review there.
According to Fredrik Bergman Evans, John Walter's parents hope for an acknowledgement that the municipality failed, but also for a guiding decision regarding legal responsibility when children are taken into care.
The parents can never get John Walter back, but they deserve redress. And above all, that the municipality's responsibility for this type of placement is established so that no more parents suffer the same tragedy.
On the morning of June 15, 2021, staff discovered that five-year-old John Walter had disappeared from an HVB home (home for care or accommodation) in Hagfors. He was found dead a few hours later in nearby Uvån.
Two employees who worked nights at the home were later charged with manslaughter. They were convicted in the district court, but later acquitted in the court of appeal.
There had already been criticism of the safety of the home before the death. The Inspectorate for Health and Social Care (Ivo) later concluded in an investigation that the social welfare committee in Falu municipality, which had placed the boy at the home in Hagfors, had failed in its responsibility.
However, both the Falu District Court and the Svea Court of Appeal have acquitted the municipality of the parents' claim for damages. The Supreme Court announced in March 2026 that the case will not be heard.
After the death, Ivo decided to temporarily close both of Platea's HVB operations in Hagfors. Humana, which Platea is part of, later concluded in its lex Sarah investigation that deficiencies in the operations likely contributed to the death. The two HVB homes in Hagfors were therefore closed permanently.
Source: TT
