A derailed initiation ritual is said to have been behind the events at the boarding school in early October, when two 18-year-old boys were arrested on suspicion of aggravated sexual assault, aggravated unlawful coercion, unlawful threats and aggravated assault. A third student was arrested on suspicion of assault and unlawful coercion.
Power structure
Lawyers representing the youths have stressed that the events need to be seen in context and that school culture played a role. Prosecutor Lisa dos Santos has also spoken of a “power structure” among students that involves punishments.
"As we have seen so far, several of these punishments have been criminal acts," she told Expressen this weekend.
Older students run the dormitory, according to Petter Sandgren, a senior lecturer in education at Stockholm University and an expert on boarding schools. For younger students, this includes initiation rituals they are expected to take part in and keep quiet about.
That's what's come to light more and more now, that people don't really accept it but tell the school administration about it.
Tradition
The system of peer education has been around for a long time and is based on the idea of being tough and developing “thick skin,” according to Sandgren. He believes it is a tradition maintained by students rather than the school.
It is rare for the teachers and principals to be boarding school students themselves. They often have a slightly different social class as well.
Sofia Kinberg, the CEO and school principal, has commented on the events, saying that tradition can never be “used as an excuse for offensive behavior” and that students who speak out have the school’s full support.
Petter Sandgren believes the only way forward for the school is to report everything it learns to the police, even if this may draw criticism from parents at the school.
Many of them are former students, so for them this is not news. You often see them defending the system, saying, "this is not that dangerous". That goes some way towards explaining how it can survive: many of those who send their children there do not think it is that serious.
"Reporting incidents to the police and investigating them sends important signals," says Petter Sandgren.
When you realize that it's not a parallel world where we can do whatever we want, but that society's laws apply, then it's not as fun anymore.
Notable events at the boarding schools Lundsberg and Sigtuna:
2012: Five students in their final year of high school at Sigtuna School are convicted of assaulting a younger student.
2013: Lundsberg is temporarily closed by the Swedish Schools Inspectorate after two students are burned with an iron during an initiation ritual.
2017: A student at Lundsberg is convicted by the district court for filming two students having sex in a shower room and posting the video online. The student is later acquitted by the court of appeal.
2026: Four students are convicted of assaulting younger students at Lundsberg. The incident is said to have been triggered by a so-called "rap battle" at the boarding school in January last year, featuring lyrics about Hitler and prostitution, among other things.
What do you think?