Christian Sonesson and Colleagues Acquitted of Misconduct Over Refugee Reception Halt

Christian Sonesson, chairman of the municipal council in Staffanstorp, along with five other local politicians, have been acquitted of charges of gross misconduct related to their controversial 2022 decision to halt the reception of quota refugees. The district court (tingsrätten) ruled that their collective refusal to accept refugees did not constitute misconduct against individuals, a necessary legal element for a conviction on such charges.

In March 2022, the Swedish Migration Agency (Migrationsverket) directed Staffanstorp to receive four quota refugees, including a Syrian family, the Al-hariris. Shortly after, under Sonesson’s proposal, the municipal council decided to stop further refugee reception, favoring prioritization of Ukrainian refugees instead. This decision resulted in the Syrian family being stranded at the airport without municipal assistance, before they were eventually relocated by another municipality after Migrationsverket annulled Staffanstorp's referral.

Presiding judge Lennart Johansson highlighted that the municipal council’s decision lacked the precision required for it to legally support charges of gross misconduct, noting it was directed at political rather than individual levels. Sonesson, who also serves on the Moderate Party’s national board, commented that the case should have been handled administratively, expressing concern about elected officials increasingly facing prosecution in criminal courts for political decisions.

The local politicians were prosecuted because they did not register any reservations during the vote to refuse refugee reception. The acquittal clarifies that the refusal was a political signal directed at national authorities rather than an abuse of office as defined under Swedish law. This verdict ends the legal proceedings stemming from what had been a contentious stance on refugee reception within Staffanstorp’s municipal leadership in 2022.