The meeting between the TV4 journalist and a prostitute took place in November 2023. According to the prosecutor, the journalist arranged to meet the woman, bought sex from her and withdrew 2,000 kronor in cash the same day.
As evidence, the prosecutor presented, among other things, the journalist's messages to the woman and that she had saved his name in her phone book as 'sex buyer'.
The journalist, for his part, claims that the incident was part of a journalistic assignment in which he sought information from the woman for a news tip. He says he wrote the messages, in which he urged her to wear certain clothes, to avoid revealing his cover as a sex buyer.
The explanation has also been supported by the journalist's superiors during questioning.
The district court believes that the prosecutor has not succeeded in refuting the journalist's statement.
"Although the prosecutor has cited circumstances that provide some support for the claim that the journalist purchased a sexual service, these are not sufficient to rule out other reasonable explanations," says court president Louise Conradi in a press release.
