Olsson will, together with his colleague Filip Rydin, represent the two doctors who in the media became known as the general practitioner and the forensic pathologist when they were prosecuted and acquitted of the murder of 27-year-old Catrine da Costa in the late 1980s.
In the acquittal, the district court nevertheless established that they had dismembered the woman, which led to their medical licenses being revoked in a court of appeal ruling. Since they were acquitted, they could not appeal the district court verdict and therefore not the formulation regarding the dismemberment either.
The case is once again brought to attention in SVT's new documentary series "Documentary from the inside: The Swedish dismemberment murder". Thomas Olsson believes that few can doubt the men's innocence after seeing it.
As a lawyer, one wants to see justice done. If it has gone wrong, one is prepared to help, says the lawyer, explaining why he agreed to participate and initiate a new retrial process.
Seeking retrial previously
The doctors have previously attempted to obtain a retrial for the court of appeal ruling, which will be the goal this time as well.
That's where you have the legal opportunity to challenge the issue, says Olsson.
The difficulties consist partly in the fact that so much time has passed since the events – partly that they have already tried several times before, says he.
This means that many of the circumstances that today lead to the perception that this is incorrect have already been tried. And in a retrial process, one must present some new form of evidence. So it will be a challenge to formulate the retrial application in a way that differs from what has been presented before.
The fact that so much time has passed also means that it is not possible to hold a new trial if a retrial is granted, according to Olsson. The alternative is then that the court of appeal ruling is simply set aside.
Ex gratia
When it comes to the question of whether the two men can be compensated financially, it is not possible to seek damages from the Chancellor of Justice, as the statute of limitations is ten years.
Then the alternative is to turn to the government and request that they provide redress by compensating financially "ex gratia", says Thomas Olsson.
This means that the government pays out a sum "out of grace", i.e., without being legally bound to do so. Such a decision was made by the previous government in 2022 when it paid out one million kronor each to the brothers who in 1998 were wrongly accused of killing four-year-old Kevin in Arvika.
